Big Mac And TAG Racing Announce Exciting 2018 Plans

Continuing their long standing relationship with Tramore native Brian McCormack, TAG Racing have
set out yet another busy year in Irish Racing. The Irish team have not only planned out a very impressive schedule of races, but have also added a second Superbike to the campaign for 2018, electing to run the 2017 Spec Honda Fireblade in the Dunlop Masters Superbike Championship while McCormack himself will run the impressive BMW S1000rr, which brought him his best ever Isle of Man TT result in 2017, on the Irish National roads and International Roads campaign.

Speaking about the season ahead, Brian outlined his excitement at getting his hands on the new machinery;

“Yea we had originally planned to run the new Fireblade in 2017 but I think we suffered the same delays in delivery of the production bikes as everyone else so we opted to stick to what we knew for the remainder of the season. By all accounts Honda seem to have ironed out all the gremlins and issues from last year, with O’Halloran and Linfoot really putting in a late charge in BSB in the 2017 showdown so the bike seems really capable now, and its always been a dream to handle to I can’t wait to get my hands on it for some testing around Mondello Park”

TAG Racing will be running the Honda Fireblade (pictured above) in the Dunlop Masters Superbike Championship exclusively while saving the BMW S1000rr for selected National roads events and all four International Road Races; NW200, Ulster GP, Isle of Mann TT and Macau. Speaking about his 2017 success on the BMW McCormack outlined the strengths and challenges of “splitting the stable” as he put it;

“Yea I have to say I really enjoyed my racing on the BMW in 2017, despite my ‘little’ excursion in Mondello Park of course (don’t type that…ooops!) but it really proved its worth in the Internationals…The Beemer’s legs just lend itself so well to the big internationals like Ulster and the TT as it really punches out of the blocks, it’s a real powerhorse so its ideal for the faster stuff, whereas i think the blade will work really well on the short circuit, especially in Ireland where we have some really tight challenging circuits that require a different approach than say a bigger International road race.
It’s obviously going to be challenging setting up two different Superbikes, and switching styles from roads to short circuit can be challenging enough without throwing different bikes into the mix but i think it’s a really positive thing and I’m really looking forward to the challenge! There’s not too many racers in Ireland who have two very competitive machines at their disposal so I’m really aiming to prove both of their worth as well as my own!”

TAG aim to begin testing in March with both bikes making an appearance early in the season so be sure to stay tuned for our updates on testing and how Brian and the team are progressing in the pre season preparation.