Senior Manx Grand Prix winner Caomhan Canny questioned future after death of close friend James Walsh at Tandragee 100 but plans return in 2027

Canny withdrew from the event in June after Walsh, from Kinsale in Co Cork, was critically injured in a red flag incident in the Senior Support race. The 38-year-old passed away six days later.

Donegal man Canny didn’t race for the rest of the year, although he did intend to compete at the Mid Antrim 150 and South West Road Races Athea events in August and September respectively.

However, had had to skip the Mid Antrim at Clough, while Athea was cancelled after the course failed a track inspection.

The 31-year-old was excited for a big year in 2026 after clinching a dream win in the Senior Manx Grand Prix last year, but instead Canny became disillusioned with racing.

He joined Northern Ireland team Scott Racing to ride an Aprilia in the Superbike and Superstock classes and an RS660 Sportbike, but a crash on his debut on the 1100cc RSV4 at the Cookstown 100 ruled him out of his North West 200 debut.

Canny was declared fit for his debut at the Isle of Man TT a few weeks later, but he parted company from Trevor Scott’s team before race week after struggling with handling problems on the big Aprilia.

“It was a horrible year,” said Canny.

“James was such a close friend of mine and I took it really bad.

“I went out for the first lap in the Supersport race but I pulled in. I had gotten news that it wasn’t good before I went out and I just couldn’t focus.

“It’s not been a great year for the sport and after James was killed, and the year that I was having, I thought to myself, ‘what am I spending £50,000 a year for to do this?’

“I don’t want to make it about me, but a lot of things went through my head. I thought, ‘what am I doing?’

“I looked at my trajectory from 2024 to ’25 and I was very pleased and I was where I wanted to be. I don’t like to push out the boat any time I do an event, I prefer to push on a bit in year two.

“I was happy with everything and then this came to my doorstep. Now, I know there’s people working in road racing for years, like John Burrows – I’d be very good friends with John and we get on very well – and these boys have seen cruel side of the sport.

“I haven’t, and to see it come so close to me, I did question the sport all year,” he added.

“James started road racing before me but when I started in road racing, we set up in the same gazebo and when we both put our entries in for the Manx Grand Prix in 2024, we both said to each other if one gets an entry and the other doesn’t, then whoever doesn’t get in will go as mechanic. I got the entry and unfortunately he didn’t.

“So James came over to the Manx but not only that, we were with each other at every single road race in the Nationals and spoke about twice a week on the phone. It was tough and still is tough to be honest.”

After a period of contemplation, Canny decided to race on, which is what he says his good friend Walsh would have wanted.

“After a tough year, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” he said.

“As the year went on and the more I thought about things and spoke with a few people, and I would be the same as James and the rest of them – if you’re going to give your life to something, you don’t want people to stop you if you love it – so that’s the kind of mindset that I’m trying to get into.

“It sounds mad, but when you get on the motorbike it [possibility of a fatal crash] doesn’t cross your mind. You see the feeling of hitting the compression at the bottom of Bray Hill? I will never replace that with one other thing.

“I’d love to go on and say I’m going to push top-10s or push wins at the TT and who knows what’s going to happen with my own trajectory – it’s probably not going to be that good – but it’s just the feeling of doing it.

“It’s the best feeling in the world and I do love riding my motorbike around those roads.

“I was supposed to go to the Mid Antrim but something happened and I couldn’t and then I was going to Athea, but it was obviously called off. I felt like I wanted to do Athea before the end of the year to try and get my head back into it.”

Canny, though, will regroup for 2027 and has finalised plans to ride Suzuki machinery with the help of a new sponsor.

“We’re ready to go and we’ve a new engine in the [Suzuki] 750 and thankfully I have a new sponsor on board in JML – John McLaughlin – who has bought me a new 2027 Suzuki GSZ-R1000,” Canny added.

“I’m absolutely delighted. Suzuki have brought this one in with a few changes from the 2019 one, so there’s a bit more power and we’re just waiting on the new kit ECU and loom to be released. They’re a wee bit behind the Honda and the BMW, but the chassis is good and we know what the boys can do around the island on the old chassis.

“I am genuinely excited about 2027 and the lads I have are fantastic. Alan Kilpatrick is on board helping me out a bit this year and as I said, John McLaughlin as a sponsor.

“Alan and John got the bike secured for me and I can’t thank them enough because in a way it’s what I needed to get me back into it, not because I wasn’t interested because the interest didn’t leave, but I was kind of feeling sorry for myself to be honest.

“So the plan for the North West and TT is to just concentrate on the Supersport bike and big bike, but at the National roads I’d love a Supertwin.

“I want to do as many of the National road races as I can financially and we’ll also do some short circuits to help with preparation for the North West and TT.”

Canny is set to test the 1000cc Suzuki in Spain this month before returning for further testing in December.