Reigning Irish Superbike Champion Derek Sheils will make his debut at the 2017 Phillip Island Classic as he joins Team Ireland for the upcoming event.

Sheils will partner Paul Byrne on Tom Dermodys DMR Motorsport Mc Intosh Suzuki XR69s and it will not only his first time at Phillip Island but also his first classic race.

Team-mate Byrne should be a front runner as he was last year. This time round he has the benefit of more horsepower and classic racing miles under his belt having just won all his races in New Zealand recently.

Previous Island Classic race winner and lap record holder David Johnson joins the team and rides captain Mike Meskell’s Katana 1295. Hilton Hincks also returns and will ride a DMR XR69. Hincks never got a chance to shine last time as he was plagued with silly mechanicals but expect top ten finishes from the Waterford man this time round.

Ben Rea is another returnee from last year on his XR Suzuki but this time with about 40hp extra. Top 10s will be his very achievable goal. Chris Campbell is back with a vengeance armed with a potent FJ1100 racer this time. Cormac Conroy travels south once again and will ride the Bradley Bros McIntosh Kawasaki. This bike ran at the very front of the Classic some years ago in the hands of none other than his team mate Johnson. Cornroy is a multiple European classic champion in various classes and is relishing the challenge.

Levi ‘O’ Day on Roland Skate’s "Beastess" CBX. Its fair to say that Day knows the fastest way around PI and will draw every last mile an hour out of Rollie’s much improved big six.

Meskell is not riding this time round and will concentrating on the job of running the team. “Our aim for 2017 is  to build on our third place last time and finish higher up the ladder,” he said.

“We return with confidence, a stronger team and better bikes. Last year, our first , was very much a learning experience and even though we did better than many expected, by finishing third and beating New Zealand and the US, it could have been even better. The gap to the top two teams at the finish was huge however but we fully intend to close that gap this time around.

“We have a very strong crew  and flying totally under the radar. We are there to challenge for the top spots and that's  what we'll do. We're not coming all the way to Oz to make up the numbers. We hope for a very strong Irish spectator presence to get behind the team once again. Get your Tri Colours out and  get to Phillip Island to support the team.”