Now in his 3rd season of racing, the lure of the Road Racing bug has got to Lloyd Collins, and within a few weeks time, he will realize a dream come true when he makes his debut between the hedges at the KDM Hire Cookstown 100, and will ride a 600 Honda which has backing from a sponsor who has in the past been synomous with the late Joey Dunlop! Yes, amongst his sponsors is none other than John Harris, who supported Joey in the 600 class, and was with Joey at the ill fated race in Tallin. Lloyd will compete in the 750 support class in the KDM Hire Cookstown 100 races having done some years of racing with the British Motorcycle Racing Club on short circuits around England completing his newcomers season in 2015 coming 6th overall in the 600s class with the best race finish of 3rd at Snetterton 200 and in 2016 in the Minitwin MRO series on a Suzuki sv650 managing a best season finish of 2nd at Snetterton 300. In 2017 Lloyd is back racing a 600 making his road racing debut in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man kicking off with Cookstown 100 as well as competing with various clubs in England on short circuits. How did Lloyd get involved in racing? In December 2014 after a few years of track days and one big crash on the road Lloyd found himself wanting to go racing. With helpful advice John Harris this suddenly became something that would happen after all as he mentioned that he might know of a bike for Lloyd to race. Things soon changed and after chatting with Brian Smith, whom he had met through John Harris motorcycles shop and doing a few track days over the years together had offered Lloyd his Honda cbr600rr7 track bike to race being a bike out the youngsters price range. Lloyd admits, he learnt a serious amount in his first race weekend and is man enough to admit again, that he is still learning. Leaving the 2015 season and his rookie bib him, Lloyd had a better idea of what to expect for the following season and an idea of what he needed to do to have the right setup in order to have success in 2016. Due to the expense Lloyd decided that a switch away from the 600 decided to race with the British Motorcycle Racing Club for a second season (BEMSEE) in the MiniTwin class, designed to be a cheaper class as the bikes are regulated to 72bhp and with little modification allowed so all the bikes run are Suzuki SV650s. Lloyd got to grips with riding in the MRO MiniTwin class progressing his way up the grid throughout the year all the way up to gaining a podium in the last round. Lloyd would like to mention a special thanks to his parents, John Harris Motorcycles, Warren Drives, Beacon Plant Hire southern, Alex Lester, Gavin Worsfold and Dominic Allum for continued racing support.
Programme of Events KDM Hire ‘Cookstown 100’ 2017
Thursday 6th April
Press Launch
Royal Hotel from 7.30pm
Thursday 13th April
Liaison Night
Royal Hotel 7.30pm
Sunday 23rd April
Annual Bikers Service
Orritor Presbyterian Church 3.30pm
Thursday 27th April
Classic Bike Run
Sign on from 6.30pm in Burn Road Car Park leaving 7.15pm
Friday 28th April
Practice Day
Roads Close 12 noon
Saturday 29th April
Race Day
Roads Close 10.00am