Tension 'mountain' for Slemish Cup trial

The event gets under way at 11am. The start will be from the mountain car park, on the slopes of Slemish itself.

JP Corry, the complete builders suppliers will once again sponsor the event, which will be a counting round of the Ulster championship, and also the final round of the Michelin Mid Antrim Trials series. The club are also indebted to Ballymena Borough Council for their help with the event.

As I mentioned, the event will be the final round of the Michelin Mid Antrim series, and reading down the tables as it stands at the minute, there's nothing set in stone.

George Smyth leads, with 48 points, while sitting in second place, Geordie Robinson is only 4 points back. John Heenan is far from out of it, being only 9 points back of the leader.

The overall winner will recieve the Mackness Slemish Cup and replica, while the best rider in the Youth A category will collect the John McCosh Memorial Trophy and replica. The trial will cater for all the adult grades, A to D, while due to the diffuculty of the terrain, only Youth A and B will be run.

Results will be announced after the event in the Halfway Bar, on the Carnlough Road, Broughshane. The Mid Antrim club are indebted to Pat Hamill and his staff for the use of their facilities.

MARK STEPPING UP?

Antrim's Mark Glasgow, the 2010 Irish Supertwins champion, is looking at stepping up to the 600 class for the 2011 season.

Reading the results for the year, Glasgow won the title through sheer consistency. He had only 2 race wins, ending the season on 361 points. The second finisher, Marty Lennon took 6 wins, but still ended the year 28 points adrift, while with 8 wins, Killyman rider Ryan Farquhar had 200 points. That shows steady points-scoring pays dividends!

I understand that the championship winning SV650 is for sale now, exactly as raced, and the Glasgow team hope to step up into the 600 class for 2011. Mark has raced an R6 in early 2009, but following a serious injury to elder brother Alan, he took over the SV mid season, immediatly finding himself right on the pace. He raced the same SV this season, and duly won the championship on it. Now, hopefully,with decent backing, the local lad can move up into the 600s again.

Mark's father David said: "It would be a good idea if the MCUI were to take a close look at running a Superstock championship within the 600 class, similar to the Superstock they already run in the ISB class.

"It costs a fortune to run a tuned 600, while a more standard class would be just that wee bit more manageable for a team with a limited budget."

Anybody who would feels they would like to help the Glasgow team step up into the seriously competitive Supersport 600 class, or indeed, buy the race and championship winning SV650 Suzuki, can contact Mark on 07854 948726.

BALLYMENA BIKE SHOW

We were promised a Honda-6, and that was what we got.

David Pattison's bike show in the Seven Towers Leisure Centre ran last weekend, and was easily the best show the local man has ever staged.

Special guests Peter Williams, Sammy Millar, Sammy Millar, Jim Redman and Ralph Bryans all appeared, and dandered round signing autographs, talking to fans having photos taken and generally giving bike fans a day to remember.

I had a good chat with 6 times World champion Jim Redman, and he told me a few wee things that I’d better not repeat about some of the antics from the GPs of yesteryear. Mike Hailwood seemed to have been at the heart of most of them.

Peter Williams, while not in the best of health, sold out of copies of his new book, and seemed genuinely touched that bike people remembered him.

Peter's sister Andrea was the wife of the late Tom Herron, and the former Norton teamster talked with great affection for his former brother in law.

“With Tommy, you saw what you got. He spoke his mind, and that got up the noses of some people. We got on well. He told me some stories that would have made you hair curl,” he laughed.

When the promised time arrived for the guys to start the 350-6, crowds of people made their way outside. What a noise. Simply awesome. My son, who's 11, said something that I dont think I'll write here in case his grandfather reads it, but there were only two words!

I know that David has said that this was his last show, but anyone who can put the likes of this together should try again. It was fantastic. Thanks to David for all his work. He runs the shows each year and raises money for Action Cancer. I’m not too sure how much it raised this year, but I would imagine it was enough to make it worthwhile for him. The car park was full to capacity for much of the day. Hopefully he wont carry out his threat to retire. Classic bike fans, and there are thousands here, are crying out for shows like this one. Thanks David. It was worth the work to hear the Honda.

SUPERMOTO TO GO AHEAD?

After the cancellation of last weekend’s Supermoto, due to the lack of entries, it looks like this weekend’s meeting at Kirkistown will take place.

The decision was made the previous Monday to knock the first round, due at be held at Bishopscourt, on the head, as there had only been something like 17 entries.

As far as I know, 47 entries have now been confirmed as I write this, on Sunday night, and a decision will be made on Monday, whether or not to go ahead with the rest of the series.

If this weekend’s meeting gets the chop, it’s pretty likely that the rest of the proposed 4 round championship will not take place. A bit of a shame, but the organisers need 60 entries to make it financially viable.

I always enjoy the P&O backed championship. Hopefully everything will get the green light tomorrow night, and we will have the remaining three rounds. If this weekend goes ahead it will be at Kirkistown.