RIDER GRADING

All riders racing in Superbike or Supersport are graded as ‘Cup’ or ‘Pro’. The ‘Cup’ class within both the Superbike and Supersport Championship is designed to provide less experienced riders with something to compete for and only riders designated as ‘Cup’ riders can score points in the Cup Championship.

Before each season a list of riders being upgraded from Cup to Pro is published. Upgrades from Cup to Pro are based on performances at the Masters in the previous season. All Cup riders times from the previous season are analysed and compared to the fastest times for the Pro riders in their class. If a rider is capable of achieving race times within 5% of the fastest time in their class, they will be considered for upgrade. Riders will be upgraded if in the opinion of the championship organisers they have achieved the criteria for upgrade at a high enough percentage of the events they have competed in during the season being examined.

Once a rider has been upgraded from Cup to Pro there is no mechanism for downgrading a rider in the future. Upgrading is not optional and riders cannot decide to remain a Cup rider once they have been upgraded. The only exception is where a Supersport Cup rider is upgraded but instead of competing in Supersport they decide to move to Superbike. In this situation a rider is given a single year exemption from upgrade during which they can race as a Cup rider in Superbike. At the end of that year they will be upgraded to Pro irrespective of the lap times they achieve. Once a rider has raced as a Pro in either class they can no longer race as a Cup rider in either class.

The riders listed below will be upgraded from Cup to Pro for 2026 based on their 2024 performances.

Any rider not mentioned in the grading changes will retain the grade that they raced with at the Masters in 2024 or previous seasons. In addition, the championship organisers reserve the right to add new entrants to the series to whichever class they deem appropriate and to upgrade additional riders once the season commences if necessary.

Any rider wishing to appeal their upgrade may submit their appeal in writing to:

shortcircuit@motorcyclingireland.ie

UPGRADES FOR 2026

SUPERBIKE








Ronan Waters
Declan Madden
Seanie Smith
Darren Tierney
Ryan Whitehall


















SUPERSPORT








Jack Whearty
Brandon Kavanagh
Michael Gillan
Gary Reilly
Kelan Smith
Vinny Brennan