KMR Kawasaki has announced the signing of multiple Irish Road Racing Champion Derek McGee for the 2018 road racing season.
 
The Mullingar rider, who won the 2017 Superbike, Supersport and Supertwins Irish Road Racing Championships, will campaign Ryan Farquhar’s ER6 650cc Kawasaki at the North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix and will also make his return to the Isle of Man TT races after missing this year’s event.
 
In addition, he’ll also campaign the IEG-sponsored machine at the National road races in both Northern and Southern Ireland.
 
Having previously won the 2014 Irish Supersport Road Racing Championship, 2017 was the best year to date for the 31-year old as numerous race wins and podiums enabled him to take the aforementioned hat-trick of titles whilst he also made an impressive debut at the Southern 100 where he became the fastest newcomer in the history of the event after lapping at 111.312mph on his own Kawasaki ZX-10R.
 
With seventh in the feature Solo Championship race, McGee also took eighth place in the opening Supersport race at the Ulster Grand Prix, which was where he linked up with Farquhar for the first time, qualifying in an excellent third place. Unfortunately, a spill in the preceding second Supersport race meant he was unable to take his place on the grid for the Supertwins race.
 
However, with tremendous pedigree on the Supertwin machines, having won the Ulster Grand Prix in 2015 and finished second in 2014, he's done more than enough to impress team owner Farquhar who’s delighted to welcome the winner of the 2015 TT Newcomer’s Trophy to his team.
 
“Having competed against Derek, I know all too well what he’s capable of and I’m really looking forward to working with him in 2018,” he said. “I’ll be assisting Derek at all of the International road races whilst he’ll have the use of the bike for whichever Irish National road races he wishes to compete in so it’s an agreement that suits all parties. He has a very good team behind him and I’m confident that he’ll be challenging for podiums at the Internationals and wins back home.”
 
“Derek’s well capable of doing just that and whilst at this stage I’ve only committed myself to working with him in 2018, there’s a strong possibility I’ll be supplying other riders with machinery for the North West 200 and TT. We’ll see what happens there but I expect to be in a position to announce something early next year.”
 
McGee added; "I'm delighted to get the opportunity to ride one of Ryan's bikes as he puts the best ones out there on the grid so I'll be looking to push on in 2018 especially at the Internationals. Having missed the North West 200 and TT this year, I'm really looking forward to getting back to those meetings and will be putting a lot of effort into them with a view to getting on the podium like I've previously done at the Ulster GP. With Brian Hull's Kawasaki 600, my own Kawasaki ZX-10R and Gary Dunlop's Moto 3 machine, I'm very grateful for all the support I've got for next season and I can't wait for the first race to come around."
 
Photo - Ryan and Derek together with the ER6 Kawasaki.  Courtesy of Stephen Davison – Pacemaker Press International.