Irish road racing has been a "free show" for too long, says Cookstown 100 stalwart Kenny Loughrin

Loughrin, who recently relinquished his official duties as Honorary Treasurer with the club after 46 years, says the sport has been a “free show” for too long.

He praised new online booking systems adopted by some race organisers since the Covid-19 lockdowns.

The Cookstown Club introduced pre-event booking for their race in 2020, which was held as a ‘closed’ meeting. It was the only Irish national road race that went ahead that year, with every other event cancelled due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last summer, the Armoy Club also operated an online booking system as the ‘Race of Legends’ in Co Antrim made a successful return, albeit with restricted spectator numbers and Covid measures still in place.

Cookstown man Loughrin has seen many changes during more than four decades of involvement with motorcycle racing and admits it has become increasingly difficult to raise the finances required to run a national road race.

However, he views the new online process of purchasing programme packages in advance as a ray of light for struggling clubs.

“It has been hard work trying to keep the club in good financial shape – it takes so much to put a national road race on,” he said.

“Try telling the ordinary punter it costs £120,000 to put the race meeting over and they won’t believe you.

“We had a few years when things didn’t go our way with bad weather [such as] the cancellation at Sherrygroom in 1985.

“And only a few years ago, we had a weather warning at the start of the week and it put people off from coming. Yet at the race we had a great day weather-wise.

“Still, the harm was done and very few people turned up. This in turn saw a very poor return in programme sales and when the figures were totted up the club was down just under £20,000,” he added.

“This was a major loss and the club certainly would not have been able to sustain another year like that.”

When road racing was hit hard by the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, the Cookstown Club refused to give up hope of running their race, which they postponed from its traditional April date.

The event went ahead later that year in September, with strict Covid-19 protocols in place and a limit of 1,600 spectators on the main race day.

Loughrin said: “We were able to get our heads together and find a way forward in the form of closed event, where you could only gain entry with a wristband and race programme, which had to be booked online before the race.

“It’s just a pity no one had thought of this years ago. The biggest problem with road race spectators nowadays is that they need to be educated to pay.

“For too long it’s been a free show. What show do you get for free nowadays?

“There will always be those who will complain about paying but it’s got to a stage now if they don’t want to pay, it’s their loss.

“Let’s hope this fresh idea will be the saviour of national road racing.”