Sport

Derek Sheils chasing a slice of motorcycling history

DUBLINER Derek Sheils will be hoping to rewrite a little piece of history next weekend,

The Burrows Engineering rider will be gunning to become the first rider in history to notch up four Enkalon Trophy wins when the 40th running of the event, run in association with Cornmarket Insurance Services, takes place over the Bishopscourt circuit near Downpatrick.

With a cool £1,000 up for grabs to the winner of the feature race, Sheils will start as firm favourite as he goes out to retain the trophy which he won last year.


However, one thing that goes against Sheils will be the strength of the opposition.

This includes current Irish Superbike champion Ryan Rainey on the IFS Global Logistics R1 Yamaha, along with Castledawson rider Nico Mawhinney, Dromora’s Ali Kirk, Waterford’s Brian McCormick, and Dublin’s Cody Nally.

Practice and qualifying will take place this Friday to determine grid positions for Saturday’s races, which have again attracted the backing of Walter Bell and Son for the Supersport 600 races.

Antrim’s Nikki Coates comes up alongside Jason Lynn, Robert Kennedy and Brian McCormick, who should all make the front running of this competitive class.

The meeting will also be supporting the Chest Heart and Stroke Charity at the event, which has an admission of £15 for the two days.

The meeting will also be the opening round of the Irish and Ulster Short Circuit Championships before heading to the other side of the Ards Peninsula on Easter Monday for round two which will be staged by the Belfast and District Club at the Kirkistown circuit.

With the tarmac racing season really kicking into gear over the next week, the first of the Irish road races then takes place a week later with the JMF Haulage Mid Antrim 150 road races near Clough in Co- Antrim.

Off road, the ever popular John Donnelly Motocross will take place on Saturday in Downpatrick with the event again being staged by the Killinchy Motorcycle Club.

Meanwhile, Dungannon road racer Ryan Farquhar will join up with Yorkshire’s Ian Hutchinson in the Tyco BMW Team for this year’s North West 200 and Isle of Man TT Races.