McGee gears up for new season on the roads

Derek McGee is “getting geared up for a bit of racing and looking forward to it”, he said last week in an interview with the Westmeath Examiner from the Netherlands, where he now lives and works.

Derek’s roots remain firmly in Westmeath and Ireland, and he has the pieces in place for a season of road racing back at home. His last full season was 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, and since things returned to normal after that, he has been injured and recovered, and raced on and off, but hasn’t had a full season-long campaign in place.

That has changed for 2025 and Derek has new bikes and new sponsors and is renewing his relationship with some of the teams he raced for in the past.

He says he has recovered well from the hip and leg injuries, and though the bones will never be 100 per cent, he is feeling a lot better in the last year in particular. He has maintained his physical fitness regime, as always, and has done several track tests recently in order to sharpen up his reflexes to match that.

“You just need bike time to get fit,” he said. “You can do as much as you want on a bicycle or in the gym but nothing can replicate being on the bike and getting the mileage. Once you get a couple of weekends or a couple of days together, it starts to build again quite quickly, so I’m feeling like that at the moment.”

The test track – Aspar in Valencia, Spain – was a 2000km drive from his home in the Netherlands, a journey he did with his partner Manon, and though it was “a long haul”, it was well worth the time and effort.

“The test went really well, we got perfect conditions. A lot of the MotoGP guys use it [Aspar], the Marquez brothers and Jorge Martin; this track is out in the middle of nowhere, there’s no security, nothing, and for a GP rider to be coming in there, you’d never see them, they just go down in their vans and they go out in the mix with everyone and do their laps and enjoy it.”

The stars of MotoGP weren’t present while Derek was there, but he’s satisfied that if the track is good enough for them, he could learn a lot from riding there.

One of the things he was learning was a new bike he has bought, a Yamaha R6, an ex-Ten Kate Racing bike. Ten Kate Racing are a Dutch team well established at international level, and with whom Johnny Rea finished second in the 2008 Supersport World Championship.

“It’s a bike they completely built themselves and it raced to second in the World Supersport Championship last year, so it’s a bike with a very good pedigree. I was happy with that bike in testing, we just made a few minor changes to the suspension to suit me – fantastic bike to ride, very, very happy with it.”

The new R6 is the bike Derek will race this season, with the support of new main sponsor, Bell Bikesport, who are based in Moira. He is also renewing his relationship with Brian and Wendy Hull at B&W Racing

His plans for now are to run the 600 (the Yamaha R6) in the Open and Super Sport classes.

“We still have the ZX10, but bikes have moved on a lot in the last couple of years and you really need to be on a BMW or Honda. The budget to buy one of those along with the 600 was just too much this year. If I get the offer of a good bike, I’d be open to riding one, but unless it’s a good bike and a good team, I wouldn’t have an interest.”

Another team Derek is returning to this year is Faraldo Racing: “He (Francesco Faraldo) has bought a KTM MotoGP bike, a Moto3, so I’m going to have the use of that this year as well. It’s something different – I’ve never been on a KTM before so I’m looking forward to it.

“I’m riding again for Ryan Farquhar. I got in contact with Ryan, we’ve kept in touch anyway, and we decided to give the nationals a go again this year. He’s supplying me with the bike that Richard Cooper won on at the North West, a very good bike.”

Derek conducted a “productive test” with Farquhar’s SuperTwin at Kirkistown on Wednesday week last, when a suspension specialist visited from the UK to help them fine tune the machine.

The first race of the season is the Cookstown 100 on Saturday April 26, and Derek will also race at the Tandragee 100 on June 27-28, and the Armoy Road Races on July 25-26. He says he couldn’t miss his home race, Walderstown on July 12-13, and also on his schedule are the Faugheen 50 on July 19-20 and Munster 100 Road Races on September 6-7.

Michael Halpin of the Fore Motorcycle Club has said that the Walderstown organising team are working with the Road Race Alliance of Ireland – the newly established body for road racing in the Southern Centre – to raise funds to pay for the insurance that has been agreed for 2025.

“That’s what we’re planning,” said Derek. “We haven’t committed to any more but there is the possibility we could do a few more depending on how well the budget’s running through the year. I’ll probably try and get in one or two over here (on the continent) as well.”

Derek hasn’t stayed away from competitive action since he last raced at home, and he has tasted success against serious opposition abroad.

“Well, I haven’t done much, two races in total last year – Hengelo in May, (where he won twice and got a fourth), and Frohburg, Germany in September.” A fuelling problem with the bike meant he was unable to make the most of a strong qualifying performance at Frohburg.

“Other than that, I felt good and the pace was there,” said Derek.

Aside from racing, the Mullingar Missile is well settled with his partner Manon and their daughter in the Netherlands. He comes home to see family, including his son, as often as he can, and the local link is also maintained through a new local sponsor, McCormack’s Bar in Castlepollard. His other sponsors, as well as those mentioned above, are Site Sealants Ltd, Lady B, Moira Tyres, Tip Top Toilets, a UK based company.