Derek Sheils closes in on Irish Superbike title at Munster 100

Practice at Saturday’s Munster 100 Road Races in County Cork was untimed due to rain at the Glanmire course.
By Kyle White
Published 3rd Aug 2019, 18:16 BST
Derek Sheils on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki at the Munster 100 on Saturday. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.Derek Sheils on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki at the Munster 100 on Saturday. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.
Derek Sheils on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki at the Munster 100 on Saturday. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.

The event is back on the calendar for the first time since 2013 and is the penultimate Irish National meeting of the season ahead of next month’s East Coast Festival at Killalane.

Derek Sheils spearheads the entry this weekend and the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Suzuki rider is closing in on the Irish Superbike title after winning the Ulster crown last weekend at Armoy, where he twice finished as the runner-up behind the returning Michael Dunlop.

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Sheils had won seven Irish National Superbike races from seven starts leading up to Armoy on the GSX-R1000 and the 36-year-old will be a tough nut to crack at the Glanmire course.

Ballymoney man Darryl Tweed on his 600 Honda in practice at the Munster 100 on Saturday. Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.Ballymoney man Darryl Tweed on his 600 Honda in practice at the Munster 100 on Saturday. Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.
Ballymoney man Darryl Tweed on his 600 Honda in practice at the Munster 100 on Saturday. Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.

Michael Sweeney is likely to provide his main opposition on the MJR BMW along with Thomas Maxwell and Ballymoney’s Darryl Tweed.

Sheils said: “It was nice for the team and the sponsors to wrap up the Ulster title at Armoy and we only need a few more points now for the Irish championship.

“I was happy enough with two seconds at Armoy and we’ve had a decent run lately, so we’ll try and keep that going this weekend.”

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Mullingar man Derek McGee is absent from the event and plans to sit out the Ulster Grand Prix next week after a run of bad luck at Dundrod, where he has picked up injuries two years running after becoming caught up in incidents that were no fault of his own.

It has been reported that Armoy was McGee’s last Irish road race of the season, although it remains to be seen whether or not he takes up his rides at the Classic TT later this month.

Roads close on Sunday at 8am ahead of racing. Admission is 20 euros, with children under 15 free.