King's Hall show draws ever closer

It will take place from Friday until Sunday, the 12th till the 14th February.

As normal, a number of special guests will be at the show, with men like Conor Cummins, officially the fastest road racer in the World, due to make the trip from the Isle of Man.

Cummins is from Ramsey, and amazingly, is only 23. He set a lap of 133.28mph at the Dundrod 150 meeting last year. A former bank clerk, the ex R6 Challenge rider has matured into one of the best road racers in the World.

I met him and his family at Knockhill about seven or eight years ago, when I caught a series of photos of him totally destroying a borrowed bike. He still takes time to stop and have a chat when I meet him, and he is a young lad who is destined to become one of road racing's greatest ever riders.

A man who, in my books, already has reached that status is Tony Rutter. Father of Michael, who will also attend the show, Tony won four World titles in the now defunct F2 Championship.

Tony is 68 now, but still chats away about the great times he used to have. His career was cruelly cut short after a race crash, which left him with serious head injuries. For a time it looked like he might not recover, but thankfully he has. It is also hoped to have Tony's championship winning Ducati at the show.

All the top bike manufacturers Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, KTM, Triumph, and Harley Davidson are due to attend, and its also hoped that BMW and Ducati will do likewise.

For the first time the balcony will be in use and the Chopper Club are expecting to have something like a dozen bikes on display.

On Friday the show opens at 2pm until 10pm, while on Saturday and Sunday it will get under way at 10am until 5pm.

HORICE ROAD RACE.

Horice, pronounced Horitza, might not be a place that is familiar to everyone, but I have a feeling that is about to change. It's about 85 miles from Prague, and hosts a road race in May.

Over the past few years a couple of local riders have ventured there, but this year it seems set to be very different. The race organisers have worked hard promoting their meeting, with the result that quite a few riders are heading off there, the weekend after the North West.

Ballymena man Darren Gilpin undertook the task of organising the trip, and quickly realised that interest was so high that it was going to need a lorry to take all the bikes. The lorry sorted, riders contacted Darren and now it looks like something like perhaps a dozen could make the trip.

Already confirmed are Darren himself, who finished in third place in the Ulster Supertwins championship last year, Michael Pearson, the 2007ISB champion, who is down to ride a 600 and Superbike, big Tim Stephenson, not really an Irish rider, but is a very experienced road racer riding Moira man John Bells Classic Honda, Wayne Hamilton, the 250 Support champion from 2009 is to ride a 250GP bike and a 600, Des Butler and Andrew Courtney, both useful Southern Centre riders, Dave Walsh who always performs well in the Supertwins class, my oul mate Corran Smyth will take his Superbike across, Alan Brown, former Pre97 champion and a man who confined his racing to the British Thundersport championship last year.

The final name on the list I have is Kilrea man William Davison. I know William is taking Wilson Lynn's Farlough Suzuki, and I think his own 600 Honda. William was one of the top Support riders last season, and it will be the first time he has taken the Farlough bike across the water.

Darren Gilpin said: “The motorcycle club at Horice are very passionate about their road racing and about Irish road racing, so the word soon spread. Pavel (Koci, one of the organisers) was searching to attract riders from Ireland to the meeting, and the response has been amazing.

“Due to the numbers of Irish riders going, it soon became apparent that, because of the logistics of travelling in the Czech Republic a lorry would work out cheaper. I was impressed with the structure and the size of the meeting, and the fact that many top European road racers have taken part over recent years. Along with the riders from here, many race fans are going to make the trip, and also a number of Press people too.”

It will be interesting to see how the local riders go over there. When race organisers take the time and trouble to promote their meeting, it’s good to see so many willing to put themselves to a lot of organisational bother to take part. I know that Darren Gilpin has gone to a lot of bother to sort out a lorry for the bikes, which, I understand, will leave the Monday after the North West.

At the minute, I’m planning on travelling, but other plans might knock that on the head a bit nearer the time. Hopefully not, though.

Roy Adams