THE major motorcycle event in Cork, the Munster 100, makes its long-awaited return with Keohane Citimix as title sponsors of the event that will take place in Glanmire on the August bank holiday weekend.
THE major motorcycle event in Cork, the Munster 100, makes its long-awaited return with Keohane Citimix as title sponsors of the event that will take place in Glanmire on the August bank holiday weekend.
The announcement continues a long motorsport association with the Keohane Readymix group, who through Keohane Readymix, have sponsored the West Cork Rally for several years whilst also supporting local West Cork rally drivers.
Speaking on behalf of Keohane Citimix, Liam Keohane said: ‘Keohane Readymix is very well known in West Cork in many sports but especially in motorsport. We view this association as a way of profiling the Keohane Citimix brand especially around the city. We would like to wish the club every success and hope we have a great event in August.’
The Munster 100 is one of the iconic motorcycle races and was run in Clonakilty in the late 1980s and early 90s. It wasn’t held for a further 18 years when Dunmanway hosted the event in 2010 while it was last run in the West Cork area in Timoleague in 2011.
This time, the races are being organised by the Cork Motor Cycle Racing and Vintage Club, who are delighted with the welcome and enthusiasm of the whole community in Glanmire where the event returns following a six-year sojourn.
Commenting on the announcement, clerk of the course Derek Wilson said: ‘We are delighted to have secured Keohane Citimix as our overall sponsor. The event will cost in the region of €85,000 to run with insurance (estimated at €20,000) being a major part of the budget.’
Wilson outlined that, similar to other such events, they are dependant on balancing the books on the actual race day race day itself through the number of spectators that will attend and also through programme sales. Six years ago the event was called off on the second day due to wet weather conditions. Such a situation no longer poses a problem, as he explained. ‘One of the problems with the course the last time was that when it rained, it was unsafe to race. However, when we approached Cork County Council about this year’s race, they were unbelievably helpful and did much more than we expected so the surface is not an issue anymore.’
Practice and qualifying takes place on Saturday, August 3rd. with the majority of the 11-race programme on the following day including the feature race, the Keohane Citimix Munster 100.
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