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Regent Street Methodist Church Motorcycle Show, Newtownards, 19th & 20th August 2011 |
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The annual Regent Street Methodist Church Motorcycle Show took place on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th August 2011 in Newtownards, approximately nine miles from Belfast in Northern Ireland.
This is an event which has long been supported by members of the VJMC Bangor Section and by our esteemed friend the late Eric Patty in particular. Eric unfortunately passed away on 12th June and his wife Carolyn had kindly donated a cup to be awarded for the Best Japanese machine on show. The “Eric Patty Memorial Trophy” is to be a perpetual award.
One theme for this year’s show was “50 Years of Honda” and the public were treated to a variety of models ranging from the CB 92 and CB 72 from 1961 through to the (new for 2011) CBR 250 R, a machine our Tommy seemed very interested in.
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There was also a tremendous Mods and Rockers display with supporting period memorabilia.
A diverse range of machines had been assembled: Classics, Classic Racers, Cruisers, Supermotos, Street Fighters, Motocrossers and Modern. I especially enjoyed seeing the 1938 Brough Superior SS100 which was ridden to and from the show.
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Among the race bikes was Ray McCullough’s former QUB Yamsel TD2B 250. In 1971 Ray won the 250 cc Irish Championship and secured 13th place in the 250 cc World rankings on this very machine.
The Honda CR 93 Replica had belonged to Eric and is being kept by his sons Justin and Jonathan who intend to use it for parade laps.
I think the pair of Nortons looked fantastic.
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4:00 pm quickly arrived on the Saturday afternoon and everyone's attention was focused on which machine had been selected by the public as Best Japanese.
Connor, the show organiser, paid tribute to Eric for all the help he had given him while getting the inaugural show off the ground and for his continued support and enthusiasm every year thereafter. He introduced Carolyn who announced the winner and presented the Cup.
A single vote had separated third from second place and second from first place, it couldn't have been any closer.
In Third place was Tommy with his Honda NS 400 R.
Second place went to Terry for his Honda CB 160.
First place along with the Eric Patty Memorial Trophy was awarded to John for his stunning Honda 400 Four.
While there were undoubtedly a number of deserving potential winners I was delighted to see the Cup go to a member of the Bangor Section. It was all the more heartening knowing it had gone to one of Eric's closest friends.
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