Sixteen prospective new competitors for the Manx Grand Prix visited the island last weekend for a look over the Mountain Course.

A small additional number will go through their induction in the next few weeks.

One of these will be local rider Paul Cassidy who is away in Northern Ireland this week competing at the North West 200.

Other locals include Frankie Stennett and Gareth Arnold. The latter, who also left the island on Saturday evening to prepare for the North West, is hoping to compete in then new-look Lightweight Manx GP on his Yamaha TZ250 twin.

He has already competed in at least two national events in Northern Ireland over the past month or so.

There was a real international flavour to the mix that assembled in the island last weekend, including riders from Germany, France, Italy and the United States all hoping to get an entry in either the Lightweight, Junior or Senior Manx Grand Prix races.

The calibre of those that were invited to attend was extremely high, representing the ‘creme de la creme’ of more than 100 applications that were received for the available spaces.

The best performance of a newcomer competitor will be recognised in each of the three MGP races, as indeed they were up to 1978 when the three-class Newcomers’ race was introduced.

Manx Motor Cycle Club is very grateful to Tony Duncan, Rodger Wibberley, Colin Croft, Ben Plant, Jim Barnett, Nuno Caetano, Carolynn Sells, Nigel Rea, Wayne Axon and Robbie Sylvester who gave up their time over the weekend to coach the newcomers.

Also, thanks to the Mike Hailwood Foundation for financial support, in addition to Tracey Killey and Juan Harrison for capturing images over the weekend.

2022 MGP DATES

Qualifying for this year’s Manx Grand Prix begins on the afternoon of Sunday, August 21 and continue Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, with a further session on the Friday morning of August 26.

Race one will be on the Friday afternoon, with further races on Saturday morning and afternoon, culminating on Bank Holiday Monday, August 29 with further races in the morning and afternoon. There is no allocation at present for postponed events to be held on the Tuesday.

The classes have also changed with the Senior Manx Grand Prix now restricted to Supersport bikes; the Junior for Supertwins and Lightweight, two-stroke GP and Moto3 bikes.

Gone is the Classic TT and back is a combined Senior Classic Manx Grand Prix (for machines up to 500cc) and Superbike Classic MGP, which will be held on the Monday.