Over the weekend of 18th-19th May, the East of England Arena and Events Centre played host to over 20,050 motorcycle enthusiasts and 40 motorcycle clubs at the Devitt MCN Festival of Motorcycling, the fifth edition of the event at the venue. 

Attractions included 165 racers competing in the flat track action and appearances from four motorcycling legends – Dougie Lampkin, Shane Byrne, Carl Fogarty & Chris Walker. Visitors were also able to take over 190 test rides of some of the newest bikes exhibited at the event by many of the major bike manufacturers.

This annual festival is an important fixture on the venue’s calendar, delivering something for everyone this year with live flat track racing, test rides, a full weekend of two-wheeled entertainment, and festivities that continued deep into the small hours at the Indian Thunderstroke Party.

The East of England Arena and Events Centre venue director, Jason Lunn, commented, “The Devitt MCN Festival of Motorcycling is one of the major events in our calendar, and it makes use of every facility the venue can offer – outdoor space, indoor halls, camping grounds, distributed power and water supplies, multi-gate access and entry for the test rides. In fact, there isn’t much of the venue that doesn’t become part of the event.”

Ducati Owners Club member, Denise Woffinden, stated, “It’s always nice, but for us it’s about coming to see the people that we know and also looking for the people on the stands that we see every year to have a chat to.”

Fellow Ducatisti, Kate Corley, added, “It’s all about coming together with my friends and celebrating all the brands we love. When you go out into the arena there is so much to see and there’s more than two days-worth of walking around to do.”

This year, for the first time, the event included the ‘MCN Bikes For Sale Live’ area, where riders could sell their own machines to the visitors.

“Having over 20,000 motorcyclists over for the weekend may sound daunting, but the riders are a great crowd and Bauer Media have the event managed and running very smoothly. It is simply the best motorcycling event that we have ever hosted, and we are already looking forward to having them back for 2020,” concluded Lunn.

Sam Hyland
Author: Sam Hyland

Sam is the assistant content manager for Event Industry News (EIN). Sam is involved in publishing news stories, videos and podcasts. Sam also collates the latest stories for the EIN e-newsletter. If you have a press release or story you think we might be interested to know about please email editor@eventindustrynews.com