Kyle White: Ulster Grand Prix needs fresh approach for real chance of survival or famous old race could be lost forever

A jewel in the crown of Irish road racing, the Dundrod meeting has not

taken place since 2019, with its downfall coming soon after following the shocking revelation the event was suffocating under crippling debts in the region of £300,000.

The organising Dundrod and District Motorcycle Club was issued with a winding up order in 2020 and later entered into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) to pay back a portion of its debts to creditors.

However, several top riders including 2019 man of the meeting Peter

Hickman and Northern Ireland’s Lee Johnston were left out of pocket.

Hickman, one of the biggest names in the sport, said he would be reluctant to return until he received the prize money he was owed from 2019, when he won a record seven races over two days and established the 7.4-mile Dundrod course as the fastest road racing venue in the world with an average lap speed of 136.415mph, which still stands today.

“Of course it’d be great if the Ulster returns again and I’d be interested in coming back, but that depends on how much we actually get from what we’re still owed,” said Hickman, addressing efforts to revive the race in 2021.

“I was fortunate enough to get my start money paid and I know most others didn’t, but I’m still owed prize money. I won more prize money in 2019 than any other rider and it’s obviously a fair amount.”

Poor crowd numbers in 2019 due largely to an inclement weather forecast exacerbated the financial situation and things quickly began to unravel, while the race was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out almost every Irish road race.

Behind the scenes, the Revival Racing Motorcycle Club – organisers of the Classic Bike Festival Ireland at Bishopscourt circuit in Co Down – were putting together a major proposal for a financial package of £800,000 for Northern Ireland motorcycling to take over the Ulster Grand Prix and safeguard the future of the North West 200.

Ulster road racing legend Phillip McCallen was heavily involved in an ambitious bid to bring the country’s two biggest road races under one organisational umbrella in the centenary year of the Ulster GP.

Government funding was signed off by the Department of Economy and Department of Finance, but in a late setback Tourism NI refused to support the proposal.

The Revival Club said the venture would have “delivered the biggest investment in motorcycling ever seen in Northern Ireland”.

A statement added: “The funding proposal was a joint venture between the UGP and NW200 to provide support to both international events which showcase Northern Ireland around the world.

“All parties have been involved in in-depth business case appraisals which have confirmed excellent value for money and a huge impact on the economy.”

Tourism NI argued the funding sought was more than six times the amount requested to run the race meetings in 2019, adding that while the Department for the Economy and Department of Finance “provided Tourism NI with the necessary approvals in principle to pay out the sum of money requested if Tourism NI was in a position to do so”, the public body “could not justify the level of funding requested both on financial and legal grounds”.

It was a bitter blow to McCallen and his fellow directors in the Revival Club, who regrouped to launch a further bid to take over the event last year.

Yet this second attempt also proved fruitless and the club withdrew its application to run the event in October 2022, with the Dundrod Club re-emerging and applying to the sport’s governing body – the Motor Cycle Union of Ireland (Ulster Centre) – for dates in August 2023 to stage the race.

With two interested parties involved, efforts to put concrete plans in place for the return of the race became almost impossible, precipitating the Revival Club’s decision to pull out.

“Due to the shortness of available time to develop the plan with all vested parties such as the MCUI (UC), sponsors, local and central government, we cannot ascertain how much funding is available to run a successful event, therefore the risk in running the UGP is simply far too great for us to consider,” a Revival Club spokesperson said.

The Dundrod Club was now free to press ahead with a bid to run the 2023 Ulster Grand Prix as a scaled down meeting over two days, similar to smaller national road race meetings such as the Cookstown 100.

Many, though, within the sport were sceptical of the prospects of the race going ahead and there was further disappointment when the Dundrod Club announced their decision to cancel in April last year.

Club chairman Robert Graham said unsuccessful efforts to obtain a copy of the public liability insurance policy covering Northern Ireland motorcycling last year was a key factor in the decision, although the MCUI’s chairman at the time, John Dillon, claimed ‘insurance documents with extensive details of cover’ had been issued to the Dundrod club.

The suspicions of those cynics who felt the old guard within the Dundrod club – who presided over the famous old race’s downfall – were stubbornly refusing to step aside merely to stifle any further attempts by other parties to take control of the event, deepened further when the event was called off again on January 8.

This time, the Dundrod Club blamed ‘ongoing insurance issues and a

lack of sufficient time to find a solution to these challenges’.

This perspective, though, was disputed by the MCUI, which said it did “not have any insurance issues”.

“We therefore assume the Dundrod & District Motorcycle Club are referring to the increased cost to themselves,” added a statement.

There is a prevailing sense that any real hope for the return of the Ulster Grand Prix in the future hinges on a fresh approach with new faces at the helm.

Otherwise, with each year that passes and each seemingly inevitable cancellation, Dundrod’s flickering flame could be extinguished for good.

With only three Irish road races taking place in 2024, how the sport needs the UGP back on the calendar.

If we never again see motorcycle road racing at the Ulster Grand Prix, it would be one of the biggest failures in Irish road racing’s 100-year history.

And those standing in the way of progress should hang their heads in shame.