Louth motorcycle racers face anxious time over insurance cover

By Tamara O’Connell

One OF the founders of Dundalk Motopark has said he and a number of others are working on a solution to the insurance issues that are threatening the survival of the industry.

enda Kelly from Kilcurry told the Dundalk Leader that there is nothing happening at the north Louth track as they can’t get insurance.

“i established the track with my brother, John, in 1990. We have had no problem getting insurance until this year,” said enda.

“there are four sports we get insured for usually and that’s Motocross, trails, enduro which are all of road sports. the fourth sport is road racing and that’s the problem.

“there are three or four big insurance claims that are coming to a head and now the insurance companies won’t cover it.” enda added: “there are around ten clubs in the South. We have formed a Motocross committee and now we are trying to set up a completely different organisation.

“the fans are furious because there is nothing happening this year but we had a recession and Covid-19 so it’s harder to get the numbers now than before.

“A lot of young children start the sport at six years old but if there is nothing on, they might get into other sports.”

He continued: “it’s tough but what can you do? Our season starts in March so we are hoping to get the new body formed so we can go to the insur- ance firms.

“We have seen a similar situation in the north and they formed their own body ten years ago and it’s working out very well.

“it’s the only hope we have at the moment. there are between eight to ten tracks in ireland and a lot of them are being leased from farmers.

“they still want to be paid and if they are not, they will turn the land back into fields. Luckily, we are not in that situation but we have to get something sorted with the insurance.”