Where ? I here you say ???
To be precise - Somewhere in Northern Ireland up in the hills near Belfast Harbour
Why ? I hear you say ?
Well that is a long story - you see Craig McCoo and his son Josh - founder members of the Belfast Greeves Scrambling club - often make the long pilgrimage over to the mainland to get their Greeves Scrambling fix with us - last time was the Mortimer Classic and 100 miler - so I thought why not return the compliment.
The original plan - hatched over a bottle of fine Irish Whiskey or two at the Mortimer was to head over for the two day BallyBlack event ......with racing Friday evening and Saturday ...but then the event was cancelled ...and entry sent in for the Grand National ......At the last minute a landowner came up with a new venue and I decided to head over for a romantic weekend away with my Wife to Belfast..........(Plus QUB on a trailer of course) .
The journey started last Thursday afternoon and took 5 hours to reach Birkenhead docks to get the overnight Stenna ferry to Belfast.
We had a good nights sleep , after several bottles of vino in the Stenna lounge (AKA Irish Sea Club) - we arrived early morning in Belfast. We caught up with Craig and family over a brew – and spent the day driving up the glorious coast road to see the Giants Causeway via lunch at the Bushmills inn.
There are no words to describe the sheer beauty and exhilaration of that coastal drive – I will leave that one to travel writers – but it was a privilege to experience.
Returning to Craigs place early evening it was time to get serious and prep bikes and practice riding in the garden……..Unfortunately I had my second off of the season on Craigs rare QUB Mk 11 – taking the tight right hand chicane between the rose bush and the rhododendrons ……Fortunately my body protected the bike from more than cosmetic damage……..and after that it was Monty trials riding and a pre-race BBQ .
We awoke to a wet early morning on race day and proceeded in convoy to Craigantlet race track with 5 Greeves in tow
The course was on a steep hill with a big uphill start and jump - tricky top of hill section and very technical downhill sweeping sections ………oh er what had I let myself into …
We were surrounded by Maico and Red Rocket twinshocks…but attracted a lot of attention from riders and spectators all with Greeves memories.
The track soon dried out and we had the most amazing day of racing - I rode 4 Greeves - Craigs QUB mk 1 and Mk 2 and 250 Griffon as well as my own QUB.
We put Greeves on firmly back on the map in Northern Ireland beating many Maico’s, Huskies and Cz’s and I managed a 5th in the up to 77 class, a 6th in the up to 70 class as well as Craigs storming start in the 250 class where against mainly 80’s twinshock 250’s piloted his 250 Challenger to second round the first bend !! In total I did 12 races. But the highlight for me was the 500cc final where I lined up my QUB against about 30 twinshocks, mainly Mega Maico 490’s, Red Rockets with the odd Husky ….As I roared up the hill and flew over the jump ready for the right hander – I even had to brake to avoid piling into the front runners……I fought hard all round and finished about 12th - racing hard with one 490 maico who nearly brought me off as he lost control in-front of me on the fast left hander at the bottom of the hill .
My abiding memory of the day and indeed the trip was great racing , even greater craic and comraderie - what a place to race a Greeves – I will be back next year !
Some pics to follow
To be precise - Somewhere in Northern Ireland up in the hills near Belfast Harbour
Why ? I hear you say ?
Well that is a long story - you see Craig McCoo and his son Josh - founder members of the Belfast Greeves Scrambling club - often make the long pilgrimage over to the mainland to get their Greeves Scrambling fix with us - last time was the Mortimer Classic and 100 miler - so I thought why not return the compliment.
The original plan - hatched over a bottle of fine Irish Whiskey or two at the Mortimer was to head over for the two day BallyBlack event ......with racing Friday evening and Saturday ...but then the event was cancelled ...and entry sent in for the Grand National ......At the last minute a landowner came up with a new venue and I decided to head over for a romantic weekend away with my Wife to Belfast..........(Plus QUB on a trailer of course) .
The journey started last Thursday afternoon and took 5 hours to reach Birkenhead docks to get the overnight Stenna ferry to Belfast.
We had a good nights sleep , after several bottles of vino in the Stenna lounge (AKA Irish Sea Club) - we arrived early morning in Belfast. We caught up with Craig and family over a brew – and spent the day driving up the glorious coast road to see the Giants Causeway via lunch at the Bushmills inn.
There are no words to describe the sheer beauty and exhilaration of that coastal drive – I will leave that one to travel writers – but it was a privilege to experience.
Returning to Craigs place early evening it was time to get serious and prep bikes and practice riding in the garden……..Unfortunately I had my second off of the season on Craigs rare QUB Mk 11 – taking the tight right hand chicane between the rose bush and the rhododendrons ……Fortunately my body protected the bike from more than cosmetic damage……..and after that it was Monty trials riding and a pre-race BBQ .
We awoke to a wet early morning on race day and proceeded in convoy to Craigantlet race track with 5 Greeves in tow
The course was on a steep hill with a big uphill start and jump - tricky top of hill section and very technical downhill sweeping sections ………oh er what had I let myself into …
We were surrounded by Maico and Red Rocket twinshocks…but attracted a lot of attention from riders and spectators all with Greeves memories.
The track soon dried out and we had the most amazing day of racing - I rode 4 Greeves - Craigs QUB mk 1 and Mk 2 and 250 Griffon as well as my own QUB.
We put Greeves on firmly back on the map in Northern Ireland beating many Maico’s, Huskies and Cz’s and I managed a 5th in the up to 77 class, a 6th in the up to 70 class as well as Craigs storming start in the 250 class where against mainly 80’s twinshock 250’s piloted his 250 Challenger to second round the first bend !! In total I did 12 races. But the highlight for me was the 500cc final where I lined up my QUB against about 30 twinshocks, mainly Mega Maico 490’s, Red Rockets with the odd Husky ….As I roared up the hill and flew over the jump ready for the right hander – I even had to brake to avoid piling into the front runners……I fought hard all round and finished about 12th - racing hard with one 490 maico who nearly brought me off as he lost control in-front of me on the fast left hander at the bottom of the hill .
My abiding memory of the day and indeed the trip was great racing , even greater craic and comraderie - what a place to race a Greeves – I will be back next year !
Some pics to follow
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