Former Ulster Superbike champion Gerard Kinghan relishing return of motorcycle racing in Northern Ireland with 'King of Kirkistown' meeting

The Randalstown man will be in competitive action on the IFS Yamaha R1 for the first time in 2020, after the coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on the sport.

Promoted by the Belfast and District Club, Saturday’s ‘King of Kirkistown’ meeting will be held under strict Covid-19 guidelines, with a maximum of 300 spectators permitted. Admission was paid for via an online payment system and all tickets were confirmed as sold out on Thursday.

Kinghan, who won the Ulster Superbike title in 2018, said he was looking forward to the first short circuit race of the season, although he admits he won’t be placing too much emphasis on results this weekend.

“I’m looking forward to it and hopefully it all works out well,” he told the News Letter.

“It’s going to be different for all of us, so we’ll have to see how it plays out on the day, but it will be good to finally get some racing done.

“It’s something of the unknown for the Belfast club as well, but running the race on Saturday will give them a blueprint they can work off for next year,” Kinghan added.

“It looks like this will be the only short circuit meeting of the year now after the Mid Antrim Club called off their race. Mondello Park might run a few, but I don’t think we’ll bother heading there as you’ve got the Dunlop tyre rule and we use Metzelers.”

Kinghan, like most riders, has only completed a few test days this year and admits it will be an eye-opener going straight into Superbike qualifying on Saturday morning.

“I’ve only had a few test days and we were meant to go to Kirkistown on Wednesday for a run out, but in the end I had to work,” he said.

“We’re straight into qualifying on Saturday and the Superbikes are out first so it will be straight in from the off. We’re really treating this weekend as a run out and we’ll be looking at trying some more things with the bike that we learned from last year.

“We’ll see how we get on, but I won’t be getting too hung up on results. There’s not much to gain so I just want to enjoy it and I hope we get a nice day for it.”

His opposition includes fellow Superbike regular Nico Mawhinney, while last year’s Supersport champion, Jason Lynn, makes the step up to the Superbike class on an ex-Burrows Racing Suzuki.

Former Dunlop Masters Supersport champion Emmett O’Grady is also entered in the Superbike class on a Honda Fireblade, while leading road racer Derek Sheils could make a rare appearance on his new Roadhouse Macau-backed BMW S1000RR.

On Saturday, qualifying is set to commence from 9am, concluding shortly after 11am, with racing getting underway soon afterwards.

The programme includes the feature ‘King of Kirkistown’ event for Superbikes, the President’s Cup (Pre-injection 600cc) and the Crown Prince of Kirkistown for Supersport machinery.

Next weekend, the Cookstown 100 in Co Tyrone is set to be the only Irish road race to take place this year at the 2.1-mile Orritor course.

The Barry Sheene Classic meeting at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough last month was the first road race to be held in 2020. The English venue will also host the Gold Cup races on the same weekend as the Cookstown 100.

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