By Reigning Irish road race Superbike champion Derek Sheils is a confirmed non starter, for this weekend’s Armoy Road Races.
Missing the first day of competition at Armoy on Friday, due to best man duties at Emmett Bannon’s wedding, Derek and the Cookstown BE Racing team, had been hoping a compromise could be reached with event organisers, to allow him to race on Saturday.
Unfortunately this has not happened, depriving the event of the grand final winner this year at Cookstown, Skerries, Walderstown and Faugheen.
Photo by Baylon McCaughey
Event organisers issued today a statement, regarding Derek been a non starter for the race of legends.
They stated:
“It is with much regret that the Armoy Motorcycle Road Racing Club has confirmed that Derek Sheils will not be riding in the Armoy Road Races at the weekend.
Derek cannot attend practice on Friday due to personal commitments and the Club cannot allow someone to carry out their statutory requirement of five practice laps on Saturday between races.
Grid positions for Saturday’s races are placed on Friday night. Some of the races are already oversubscribed and there are only 27 spaces on the grid.
There will be non-qualifying races run to cater for this. Some 20 entries were also returned post the closing date for entries.
It would be extremely unfair to other riders to try and slot in one rider. The Club is a big fan of Derek Sheils but sadly practice laps cannot take place on the Saturday.”
Words by Stevie Rial
