The Duke Road Race Rankings was established in 2002 to analyse and acknowledge the season-long performances of riders involved in a series of motorcycle road racing events held on public roads. It was the idea of Isle of Man-based Peter Duke, son of former World Champion Geoff Duke, who in conjunction with road-racing journalist Leslie Moore, author Mac McDiarmid and archivist Phil Edge, developed a scoring system which would recognise the significance of the individual events. Riders' aggregate performances over a season-long assessment of several road racing events acknowledges the most consistent racer as the ‘championship’ winner. Since Ian Lougher's first-year win in 2002, all big names of road racing have been considered, such as Adrian Archibald, Richard Britton, Jason Griffiths, Darran Lindsay and, more recently, Manxman Conor Cummins.
Background The purpose of the Duke Road Race Rankings is to recognise achievements across the year by those riders who enter not just the ‘major’ meetings, but also the smaller road races. To be considered for the Geoff Duke Trophy, star names need to attend lower-profile events to earn points, helping to ensure strong grids for meetings which would otherwise be overshadowed by the main events – the Isle of Man TT, North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix. The records show a split between Ryan Farquhar and Ian Lougher, apart from 2007 when Manxman Conor Cummins received the award in only his second full-season on the roads.
The Duke Road Race Rankings series features around two dozen meetings every year, including many of the long-established Irish and Isle of Man road races, and has remained largely unaltered since 2002 – apart from cancellations and the addition of extra meetings, such as the Armoy Road Races. The series received coverage in leading publications, such as Motor Cycle News, Road Racing Ireland and Bikesportnews, culminating in an annual presentation gathering.
Results
The results of each year follows.
2025 season
2025 Results Pos Name Total 1 Michael Dunlop 1792 2 Davey Todd 1707 3 Rob Hodson 1492 4 Mike Browne 1363 5 Dean Harrison 1160 6 Michael Sweeney 1000 7 Aran Sadler 932 8 Paul Jordan 901 9 Joey Thompson 805 10 Stephen Gorton 679
2025 circuits
2024 season The Duke Road Race Rankings commenced its 21st active season at the Bob Smith Spring Cup Road Races at Oliver's Mount over the weekend of 13 & 14 April.
2024 Results Pos Name Total 1 Davey Todd 1616 2 Gary McCoy 1584 3 Rob Hodson 1409 4 Michael Dunlop 1303 5 Mike Browne 1138 6 Tom Weeden 1013 7 Dominic Herbertson 819 8 Jamie Coward 746 9 Peter Hickman 745 10 Stuart Hall 634
2024 Circuits
1 Bob Smith Spring Cup – Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 13–14 April 2 Cookstown ‘100’ Road Races – 26–27 April 3 North West ‘200’ Road Races – 09/11 May 4 Pre-TT Classic Road Races – Billown – 24–26 May 5 Isle of Man TT Races – 27 May – 8 June 6 Barry Sheene Road Race Festival – Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 15–16 June 7 Southern ‘100’ International Road Races – 8–11 July 8 Cock o'the North Continental Road Race – Oliver's Mount – 20–21 July 9 Armoy Road Races – 26–27 July 10 Aberdare Park – 3–4 August 11 Manx Grand Prix – 18–26 August 12 Macau Grand Prix – 14–17 November
2023 season
2023 Results Pos Name Total 1 Dean Harrison 1468 2 Michael Dunlop 1428 3 Peter Hickman 889 4 Gary McCoy 795 5 Rob Hodsen 745 6 Adam McLean 725 7 Joey Thompson 699 8 Mike Browne 675 9 Barry Furber 636 10 Davey Todd 622
2023 Circuits
2022 season The Duke Road Race Rankings gets fired-up for its 19th Championship season after a 2-year break due to Covid.
2022 Results Pos Name Total 1 Davey Todd 1861 2 Michael Sweeney 1752 3 Jamie Coward 1094 4 Rod Hodson 1030 5 Michael Dunlop 980 6 Dean Harrison 922 7 Adam McLean 853 8 Mike Browne 806 9 Peter Hickman 618 10 Keelim Ryan 616
2022 Circuits
1 Cookstown ‘100’ Road Races – 22–23 April 2 Tandragee '100' Road Race – 29–30 April 3 North West ‘200’ Road Races – 12/14 May 4 Pre-TT Classic Road Races – Billown – 28–29 May 5 Isle of Man TT Races – 29 May – 10 June 6 Post TT Races – Billown – 11 June 7 Kells Road Races – 18–19 June 8 Munster 100 (Cork) Road Races – 25–26 June 9 Skerries '100' Road Races – 2–3 July 10 Walderstown Road Races – 9–10 July 11 Southern ‘100’ International Road Races – 11–14 July 12 Faugheen 50 Road Races – 16–17 July 13 Armoy Road Races – 29–30 July 14 Manx Grand Prix – 21–29 August 15 Macau Grand Prix – 17–20 November
2019 season The Duke Road Race Rankings gets fired-up for its 18th Championship season with the opening round of 2019 the KDM Hire Cookstown 100 Road Races on Friday and Saturday 26 & 27 April, which also kick-starts the Irish Road Race season.
Reigning Champion Mullingar's Derek McGee will commence the defence of his title at what is the first of a total of 25 rounds. The Duke Rankings organisers welcome back two rounds at the unique Oliver's Mount Course in July and September, after a 12-month sabbatical.
2019 Results Pos Name Total 1 Michael Sweeney 1774 2 Dean Harrison 1493 3 Derek Sheils 1356 4 Jamie Coward 1259 5 Peter Hickman 1220 6 Derek McGee 1199 7 Lee Johnston 1144 8 Barry Davidson 886 9 Dominic Herbertson 823 10 Davey Todd 820
2019 Circuits
1 Cookstown ‘100’ Road Races – 26–27 April 2 Tandragee '100' Road Race – 3–4 May 3 North West ‘200’ Road Races – 16/18 May 4 Horice "300 Curves" – 18–19 May 5 Pre-TT Classic Road Races – Billown – 24–27 May 6 Isle of Man TT Races – 25 May – 7 June 7 Post TT Races – Billown – 8 June 8 Imatra Road Races – 14–16 June 9 Kells Road Races – 15–16 June 10 Enniskillen Road Races – 28–29 June 11 Skerries '100' Road Races – 6–7 July 12 Southern ‘100’ International Road Races – 8–11 July 13 Walderstown Road Races – 13–14 July 14 Faugheen 50 Road Races – 20–21 July 15 Armoy Road Races – 26–27 July 16 Barry Sheene Road Race Festival – Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 27–28 July 17 Munster 100 (Cork) Road Races – 3–4 August 18 Ulster Grand Prix – 7–10 August 19 Horice "Czech TT Road Races" – 17–18 August 20 Classic TT – 16–26 August 21 Manx Grand Prix – 16–30 August 22 East Coast Racing Festival (Killalane) – 7–8 September 23 Frohburg Road Races – 21–22 September 24 Steve Henshaw Gold Cup International – Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 27–29 September 25 Macau Grand Prix – 14–17 November
2018 season The 2018 Duke Road Race Rankings Championship gets underway over the weekend of 21 and 22 April, at the Bob Smith Spring Cup Road Races taking place over the popular Oliver's Mount Course – the first of four meetings at the Scarborough, Yorkshire venue this year. The Duke Road Race Rankings now in its 17th year of competition, having first been run in 2002, has a total of 25 rounds this year held in Northern Ireland, Eire, England, the Czech Republic, Finland and Germany. Over the 16 years of the Duke Road Race Rankings, seven overall winners have received the prestigious Geoff Duke Trophy.
Ian Lougher won in the first year and took the title again in consecutive years 2005 & 2006. Ryan Farquhar won his first rankings title in 2003, retaining the number one slot in 2004, then after loaning out the trophy for three years dominated proceedings for the five years 2008 – 2012. Seven championships in total!
Manxman Conor Cummins took the honours in 2007; Michael Dunlop in 2013; Yorkshireman James Cowton 2014; William Dunlop 2015, with the title going to Yorkshire for the second time in 2016 in the hands of Dean Harrison, who retained his title in 2017, taking top spot in the rankings table from the first round, taking seven race wins from seven starts and putting in seven fastest laps and holding that position throughout the 25 rounds.
Deans racing statistics for 2017 Duke Road Race Rankings Championship are, 23 race wins, 2 second places, 5 third places, a further 6 top six placings and seventh places, plus 16 fastest laps, 4 record laps and 1 absolute lap record during the Ulster Grand Prix at Dundrod. All of which earned him a total of 2506 points.
2018 Results Pos Name Total 1 Derek McGee 1324 2 Dean Harrison 1307 3 Adam McLean 1293 4 Michael Sweeney 975 5 James Cowton 921 6 Peter Hickman 887 7 Michael Dunlop 825 8 Barry Davidson 788 9 Davey Todd 764 10 Lee Johnston 645
2018 Circuits
1 Spring Cup Road Races Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 21–22 April ...CANCELLED !! 2 Cookstown ‘100’ Road Races – 27–28 April 3 Tandragee '100' Road Race – 4–5 May 4 North West ‘200’ Road Races – 17/19 May 5 Horice "300 Curves" – 21/22 May 6 Pre-TT Classic Road Races – Billown – 25–27 May 7 Isle of Man TT Races – 28 May – 8 June 8 Post TT Races – Billown – 9 June 9 Kells Road Races – 23–24 June ...CANCELLED !! 10 Cock o'the North Continental Road Races – Oliver's Mount – 23–24 June ...CANCELLED !! 11 Enniskillen Road Races – 29–30 June 12 Skerries '100' Road Races – 6–7 July 12a Imatra Road Races – 6–8 July 14 Southern ‘100’ International Road Races – 6–12 July 15 Walderstown Road Races – 14–15 July 16 Faugheen 50 Road Races – 21–22 July 17 Armoy Road Races – 27–28 July 18 Barry Sheene Road Race Festival – Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 28–29 July ...CANCELLED !! 19 Ulster Grand Prix – 9/11 August 20 Horice "Czech TT Road Races" – 18–19 August 21 Classic TT – 25/27 August 22 Manx Grand Prix – 27–31 August 23 Killalane Road Races – 8–9 September 24 Steve Henshaw Gold Cup International – Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 22–23 September ...CANCELLED !! 25 Frohburg Road Races – 22–23 September 26 Macau Grand Prix – 15–18 November
2017 season The 2017 Duke Road Race Rankings Championship commences on Saturday and Sunday 22 & 23 April at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough with the Bob Smith Spring Cup Road Races.
Imatra has been added to this years Duke Road Race Rankings schedule, as the famous Finnish meeting forms for the first time, part of the prestigious roads series.
2017 Results Pos Name Total 1 Dean Harrison 2506 2 James Cowton 1761 3 Ivan Lintin 1394 4 Jamie Coward 1328 5 Derek McGee 1288 6 Michael Dunlop 1268 7 Derek Sheils 1241 8 Joey Thompson 1202 9 Joe Loughlin 1010 10 Adam McLean 988
2017 Circuits
1 Bob Smith Spring Cup Road Races – Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 22–23 April 2 Tandragee '100' Road Race – 21–22 April 3 Cookstown ‘100’ Road Races – 28–29 April 4 North West ‘200’ Road Races – 11/13 May 5 Horice "300 Curves" – 20/21 May 6 Pre-TT Classic Road Races – Billown – 26–29 May 7 Isle of Man TT Races – 27 May – 9 June 8 Post TT Races – Billown – 10 June 9 Cock o'the North Continental Road Race – Oliver's Mount – 24–25 June 10 Skerries '100' Road Races – 30 June – 1 July 11 Imatra Road Races – 7–9 June 12 Walderstown Road Races – 8–9 July 12a Southern ‘100’ International Road Races – 10–13 July 14 Barry Sheene Road Race Festival – Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 22–23 July 15 Faugheen 50 Road Races – 22–23 July 16 Armoy Road Races – 28–29 July 17 Dundrod ‘150’ Road Races – 10 August 18 Ulster Grand Prix – 12 August 19 Horice "Czech TT Races" – 26/27 August 20 Classic TT – 25–28 August 21 Manx Grand Prix – 29 Aug – 1 September 22 East Coast Racing Road Races – 9–10 September 23 Steve Henshaw Gold Cup International – Oliver's Mount – Scarborough – 23–24 September 24 Macau Grand Prix – 16–19 November
2016 season
Dean Harrison Wins 'Geoff Duke Trophy'
Dean Harrison has secured the prestigious Duke Road Race Rankings Championship for 2016 becoming only the second Englishman to win the title since the series commenced in 2002.
The twenty-three round series which commenced at the Mid Antrim 150 National Road Races in Northern Ireland in early April and concluded at the recent Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix saw Dean making a cautious start to his 2016 season, his first with the Silkolene Engineering Yamaha Team, before dominating the Duke Road Race Rankings from late June.