Full-throttle Bike Bonanza returns to Shelsley Walsh
Get ready for a packed day of motorcycle action at Shelsley Walsh as the famous hill climb welcomes the return of Bike Bonanza on June 29. The high-octane event features everything from classic motorcycles to hotly contested roadgoing classes, all taking on the narrow, fast and challenging 1000-yard course. Be sure to stick around and watch the thrilling end-of-day run-offs as the fastest 10 riders go head-to-head for overall honours.
Not only does the day features a full programme of exciting hill climb competition, there are star bike demonstrations to enjoy, as well as plenty of off-track entertainment with live music, interviews and more! Event ambassador Steve ‘Stavros’ Parrish will be joining the action by doing demonstration runs on an evocative Texaco Heron Suzuki RG500, a model that achieved huge success in period thanks to riders such as Wil Hartog and Barry Sheene.
Parrish is a former team-mate of the legendary Sheene, who will be celebrated at Shelsley Walsh thanks to the presence of the last factory Suzuki that he ever raced – the XR45 on which he won the 1984 Scarborough Gold Cup. The same bike was also used by two other great names from motorcycle-racing history: Randy Mamola, who rode it in 1983; and Kevin Schwantz, who rode it at Mallory Park in 1986 after Sheene had helped the young American to get a ride with the Suzuki team. It will be on display throughout the day and is sure to draw the crowds.
Other Bike Bonanza highlights will include a 2003 Suzuki GSXR1000 that was raced by TT legend David Jefferies. This was the last bike that Jefferies – one of the most popular characters in British road-racing – rode before he died in an accident during practice for that year’s TT. The Yorkshireman was the first person to lap the Isle of Man circuit at more than 125mph, and the first to win three races at the TT in three consecutive years. The bike on display at Shelsley Walsh is a production-class machine on which he set the fastest practice lap in 2003 at 122mph.
There will be plenty of entertainment on offer at Bike Bonanza, including actor, rider, mechanic and all-round motorcycle enthusiast Graeme Hardy, who will be starring as ‘George Formby’. Inspired by the 1935 film No Limit, in which Formby played a Wigan chimney sweep who entered the Isle of Man TT on a bike called ‘The Shuttleworth Snap’, Hardy will be in full character throughout the day – complete with his very own replica of the Shuttleworth Snap, which is based on a 1926 Triumph.
No doubt Hardy will have his ukelele with him, but there will also be live music in The Courtyard from the Rhythm Slingers, who are armed with a foot-stomping repertoire of songs evoking a golden era – from Mississippi Mud to The House of Blue Lights. Add club displays, trade stands and more, and Bike Bonanza is a ‘must’ for motorcycle enthusiasts everywhere.