World road race series

Would a World Championship racing series on pure roads be a viable proposition?

It’s something that’s been talked about ever since the demise of the FIM World Championship TTF1 series at the end of 1990 but the only real overall championship currently in place is the Duke Road Race Rankings, which takes into account results from international and national road races in Britain and Ireland.

But the current strength in depth of racing on the roads, particularly at the north West 200 and the TT has got people talking about the idea of a season-long series of races on pure road courses – probably sparked by the Isle of Man TT idea of awarding an overall prize for the top scorer in this year’s solo races.

There’s no shortage of potential races. In addition to the ‘big three’ internationals North West 200, Isle of Man TT and Ulster GP, there are road races at Scarborough, Schleiz (a round of the German national championship) and Frohberg in Germany,  the Macau GP.

There are also road races in Belgium, Holland and even Australia.

North West 200 Clerk of the Course Mervyn Whyte said: “There’s no doubt it’s a possibility. There are same good road races in Europe.  Maybe six-round series might work, dropping one race.

“But it would need a hefty prize fund to make it work, with maybe £15,000 to the champion and rewarding riders down to tenth place.”

Ryan Farquhar is Ireland’s top racer, having won the 600 and superbike national road racing titles as well as the Duke Rankings last year. He said: “I’d love to see a World championship on the roads.

“There’s still good races in places like Germany and Estonia etc.  It would have to be financially viable but I’d certainly give it a go.”