Ben and Tom Birchall set for Sidecar demonstration lap at Armoy Road Races

The Mansfield brothers have dominated the class at the TT in recent years and another double in June moved them onto 12 victories around the Mountain Course.

They will be joined by Northern Ireland Sidecar driver Seam ‘Scobie’ Killough and his passenger Keelim Ryan on the demonstration lap on Saturday at the three-mile County Antrim course.

Clerk of the Course Bill Kennedy said: “We’ve already announced the many quality road riders that will be arriving this week to participate in the best national road race there is, so we know that if we get the weather, we are definitely going to have one great event.

“One small surprise on Saturday is that we’ll have a Sidecar demonstration lap. TT Sidecar champions, the Birchall brothers, along with Seamus Killough and his team-mate, Robert Semple, will take to circuit at lunchtime and show us a little of modern Sidecar racing.

“The brothers are the ‘poster boys’ of modern Sidecar racing and I’m sure they will have many more successful years at the TT, so I know that the fans of Armoy Road Races will show them their appreciation of their great achievements come Saturday.”

Final preparations for the national road race are taking place this week and Kennedy has thanked the many volunteers who have worked hard behind the scenes to ensure everything runs smoothly.

“The set-up is nearly complete, and we couldn’t have done it without the many volunteers – so thank you.,” he said.

“There are a few final preparations this week and then everything should fall into place for the weekend’s racing.

“With everything falling into place, I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind folk of the road closing times. This year we are closing the roads an hour earlier, so on Friday, the roads are closed at 11am for qualifying and practice, opening no later than 9.30pm, and on Saturday they close at 9am, opening no later than 7.30pm. We’ve a lot of practice races and racing to get through in two days.

“With that in mind, I’m asking spectators to get in to position early and choose their spot. If they want to move around the course, they are enough walkways internally to the course, to do that.

“We would ask them to stay off the road at all times. We will be turning practices and races around quickly in order to maximise the time.”