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Greg and Kerrie's travels
We had talked about going to Northern Ireland for the Ulster GP earlier in the week but had made no bookings. Greg however had done a bit more research and we decided to catch a ferry from Cairnryan to Belfast at 3:30pm on Friday 7th. As it was already 10am and we had about 80km to ride to the ferry, we packed our gear and loaded up the bike. We left the house about noon.
We arrived at our hotel near Antrim about 6:30pm, dumped our gear and rode out to the track at Dunrod, about 20km away. We purchased our entry wrist bands, a program and checked where we could park for the races in the morning. We then returned to the hotel for dinner and a beer - the usual travelling routine.
The Ulster GP is part of the Irish Road Racing calendar and has many of the same riders as at the Isle of Man TT. There were 7 races scheduled for Saturday with bikes ranging from 125cc to 1000cc superbikes. There are usually 5 races on Thursday as well but this year only 1 race was held because of the weather. Most of the riders participate in more than one race with the high profile riders participating in all races except the lightweight class (smaller bikes). We parked our bike in a farmhouse yard - complete with the smell of fresh cow-poo in the morning. We then bought a couple of tickets for the grandstand at Dawsons - one of the stands scattered around the 7.4 mile track. Our seats gave us a good view of the bikes coming down a hill before they made a right turn in to the start/finish straight and also had a large screen opposite for us to watch the whole race. We were also close enough to walk down to the paddock between races. The weather was chilly but stayed dry for most of the day.
The first 4 races were run on time with Bruce Anstey - the Kiwi rider being the winner of the first Superbike race. While Bruce was receiving his prize, a member of the crowd jumped the fence in front of the podium and proceeded to do the Haka much to the delight of Bruce and the crowd. The 5th race started on time but was red flagged after an incident in the 4th lap. The incident was later reported as the death of a Scottish rider who was riding for the first time at the Ulster GP. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence at road races as riding takes place on public roads that are not purpose built for racing as are the tracks for MotoGP. The next 2 races were delayed and the number of laps reduced as the weather had turned nasty and it was now raining. Many riders pulled out of the last 2 races and started to pack up ready to leave at the end of the day. We returned to our bike, donned the wet weather gear and returned to our hotel.
We spent Sunday riding around coastal Belfast on the Mourne Coastal Road up to Bangor and then along the Causeway Coastal Road to Larne to catch the 4pm ferry back to Troon before returning to East Kilbride for a few more days. We also need to do a bit of planning for the next part of our trip. We are very happy that we interrupted our R&R for a quick trip to Northern Ireland.
We arrived at our hotel near Antrim about 6:30pm, dumped our gear and rode out to the track at Dunrod, about 20km away. We purchased our entry wrist bands, a program and checked where we could park for the races in the morning. We then returned to the hotel for dinner and a beer - the usual travelling routine.
The Ulster GP is part of the Irish Road Racing calendar and has many of the same riders as at the Isle of Man TT. There were 7 races scheduled for Saturday with bikes ranging from 125cc to 1000cc superbikes. There are usually 5 races on Thursday as well but this year only 1 race was held because of the weather. Most of the riders participate in more than one race with the high profile riders participating in all races except the lightweight class (smaller bikes). We parked our bike in a farmhouse yard - complete with the smell of fresh cow-poo in the morning. We then bought a couple of tickets for the grandstand at Dawsons - one of the stands scattered around the 7.4 mile track. Our seats gave us a good view of the bikes coming down a hill before they made a right turn in to the start/finish straight and also had a large screen opposite for us to watch the whole race. We were also close enough to walk down to the paddock between races. The weather was chilly but stayed dry for most of the day.
The first 4 races were run on time with Bruce Anstey - the Kiwi rider being the winner of the first Superbike race. While Bruce was receiving his prize, a member of the crowd jumped the fence in front of the podium and proceeded to do the Haka much to the delight of Bruce and the crowd. The 5th race started on time but was red flagged after an incident in the 4th lap. The incident was later reported as the death of a Scottish rider who was riding for the first time at the Ulster GP. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence at road races as riding takes place on public roads that are not purpose built for racing as are the tracks for MotoGP. The next 2 races were delayed and the number of laps reduced as the weather had turned nasty and it was now raining. Many riders pulled out of the last 2 races and started to pack up ready to leave at the end of the day. We returned to our bike, donned the wet weather gear and returned to our hotel.
We spent Sunday riding around coastal Belfast on the Mourne Coastal Road up to Bangor and then along the Causeway Coastal Road to Larne to catch the 4pm ferry back to Troon before returning to East Kilbride for a few more days. We also need to do a bit of planning for the next part of our trip. We are very happy that we interrupted our R&R for a quick trip to Northern Ireland.
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