With the first two events of its 2012 schedule under its belt, the Adelaide Masters Series heads for new pastures for event three. The first ever rounds of the championship to be held away from Mondello Park will take place on Saturday August 18th at Bishopscourt, Co. Down.

Motorcycle Racing in Ireland is currently going through a difficult period with a number of events being cancelled due to falling entry levels. The Adelaide Masters Series, supported by motorcycle insurance specialists Adelaide Insurance, is a welcome exception and the arrival of the event at Bishopscourt will hold even more importance now due to the cancellation of the Sunflower Trophy races, which were to take place at the circuit just two weeks before the Masters.

The Co. Down tracks' event will feature rounds seven and eight of the televised Adelaide Masters Superbike and Supersport championships, including the 'Cup' class for Clubman riders. Alongside the feature races the race schedule will include classes for 125cc and 250cc two stroke machines, Supertwins, Pre-Injection and Lightweight Supersport. A non-championship 'Grand Final' will round out the programme with the fastest riders from the event coming together to battle for the biggest prize fund of the day and the Norman Brown Memorial Trophy.

The format for the feature races will follow that used for Mondello Park events, with two races each for Superbike and Supersport. The pre-race grid build-up, podium presentations and the Adelaide Grid Girls will all be part of the action, as will the usual TV coverage on RPM Motorsport. Due to the event being a single day and the circuit’s requirement to run different support races to those at Mondello events, the only classes which will count towards Adelaide Masters Series points will be Superbike, Superbike Cup, Supersport and Supersport Cup.

Speaking about the upcoming event circuit manager Wilson McKibbin said, “Bishopscourt is delighted to be given the opportunity to promote Rounds 7 & 8 of The Adelaide Masters and we wish to thank Adelaide Insurance for their support and assistance in making this possible. With the Superbike and Supersport classes being televised we hope this will raise the public awareness of short circuit racing in Ireland. With the support of the public and competitors this will hopefully lead to a bigger and broader series in the future for all Irish competitors.”

Mondello Park MD John Morris said, “we're delighted the Adelaide Masters is heading to Bishopscourt for its first event "away from home" . Bishopscourt is a terrific facility and we've been working with Wilson and Jim for some time to expand the championship north of the border and we're confident the racing will be every bit as good as we've seen at Mondello.”

2012 has been a good year so far for the Adelaide Masters Series with a record crowd figures and entries remaining close to 2011 levels. The Bishopscourt event is extremely important to the series as it brings increased Northern Irish exposure for both the series and its sponsors Adelaide Insurance and increases its profile still further among Ulster Motorcycle Racing fans.

Admission to the Bishopscourt Adelaide Masters round will be £10 pp with accompanied children under 14 free. For more information on the event see www.bishopscourt.org.

ENDS