
Road Racing: 2019 Calendar Confirmed
The 2019 Irish and International Road Racing calendar has been finalised, and an eleven round championship has been confirmed.
In total there are 15 race meetings penned in for the 2019 season, including the most prestigious international events: the North West 200 and the Isle of Man TT.
The Cookstown 100 once again is the venue for the season curtain raiser, on April 27th. This hugely popular event attracts the majority of the top road racers, and always produces high quality action. For the Irish Championship regulars there’s no time to waste as the Tandragee 100 follows just one week later.
With the opening rounds complete international meetings then command centre stage for the rest of May. All eyes turn to the coast roads as the North West 200 takes place from the 14th to the 18th. It is both the largest mass-start road race on the calendar, but also a final test week ahead of the event every rider wants to win: the Isle of Man TT follows hot on its heels with practice week kicking off from the 25th, with the Senior TT race concluding the event on Friday June 7th.
The Irish championship reconvenes at Enniskillen on the final weekend in June, and by the time the rider rock up at Armoy in mid-July the serious contenders for the title will have firmly established themselves. Sandwiched between the two meetings is the Southern 100, back on the Isle of Man at the Billown circuit, just outside of Castletown. Although not connected to the Irish championship, the ‘Friendly Races’ feature most of the top racers from the emerald island and brilliant racing is always a given.
The final international meeting of the season is the Ulster Grand Prix. Race week for 2019 reverts back to its traditional place of being the first full week in August. As with the North West and the TT, many of the top riders competing in the British Superbike Championship will once again test themselves against Ireland’s finest. As ever, it promises to be a thrilling meeting.
The majority of the road racing family will once more decamp to the Isle of Man in late August for a fortnight of racing and festivities. The Manx Grand Prix become one of the blue ribbon events for the top amateur road racers, whilst the Classic TT festival pits the sports elite against each other on some of the most iconic machines to ever grace the mountain course. The Irish championship concludes at the Killalane East Coast Festival in early September.
As has long been tradition, the final international meeting of the year is the Macau Grand Prix which will be held in the middle week of November, where the field is expected to be made up of a mix between the leading Irish road racing and British Superbike teams.
The full calendar for the 2019 Irish and International Road Racing season.
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* Denotes non-championship meeting