200 top bikers set to attend Cork motorcycling race

A Cork satellite town will play host to a national motorcycle racing event for the first time.

Glanmire has been chosen as the base for the road races.

These will take place on a three-mile circuit close to the Cork-Dublin (M8) motorway on the weekend of June 15-16.

The event has been organised by a committee based in the town and the Cork Motorcycle Racing & Vintage Club and will form part of the national Duke Road Race Rankings Championship 2013.

The organisers say it will attract all the top riders nationally.

Cork County Council has agreed to upgrade the surface on 1.25km of the circuit, which runs along the old Cork-Dublin road, adjacent to the M8 junction north of Glanmire, to Annacartan bridge, Crush Cross and Killalough.

Glanmire-based Cllr Noel Costello, who is helping the organising committee, said it was planned to hold a major festival in the town to coincide with the weekend motorcycle races.

“I have been working with the organisers of the race and I know it will be a huge success.

” Their level of professionalism is impressive and their organisation has been painstaking,” he said.

“It will be worth a considerable amount of money to the local economy.”

He said details of the accompanying festival were being worked on and would be made public nearer the race date.

“I have no doubt that it will prove very successful and hope it will become an annual event in Glanmire,” Mr Costello said.