Andrew Murphy was forced to withdraw from last weekend’s Gold Cup after a rule in Motorcycling Ireland’s regulations conspired against him.
The rule states that any Irish motorcycle road racer must make his debut at an Irish event before start permission is given to race abroad.
However, there has been no road racing in the Republic of Ireland this year due to the ongoing insurance crisis.
Even if Murphy wanted to, he would not have been able to race in Ireland this year. He did supply a full list of his Mondello Park results to race organisers in Scarborough but they upheld the rule on safety and insurance grounds and he was forced to stay at home for the weekend.
“Unfortunately I was refused start permission due to the fact Scarborough would be my first road race and in the rule book it states you can’t compete in your first road race outside of Ireland,” he said.
“Pity I did not know this three weeks ago as I was really looking forward to this one. I want to say a big thanks to [Motorcycling Ireland official] Paul Power for sorting my licence on short notice. He really put in a big effort to get me going.”
Murphy will instead turn his attention to the penultimate round of the Ulster Superbike Championship in Bishopscourt, County Down this weekend.
Ardfert’s Stephen Walsh is also racing in Bishopscourt where he will make his Production Twin class debut on a Suzuki SV650.
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