The Mid Antrim 150 Motorcycle Club and Suckin Rabbits Media are to join forces to stage the 2011 Mid Antrim 150 road race that takes place on Saturday the 6th August. Suckin Rabbits Media Director, Richard Andrews and Brian Smith of the Mid Antrim 150 Motorcycle Club spoke about the new partnership:

Richard, “First and foremost, I am a big bike fanatic. I’ve owned road bikes for most of my adult life and have raced a few seasons at club level. I love to watch the racing and like most have been to the UK rounds of BSB, WSB and MotoGP as well as the Manx and TT. However, I really became hooked on road racing after living in Ireland for two years. Mid Antrim especially stuck in my mind, where I was simply blown away by the racing.

I run my own media company, which specialises in corporate video and photography. We are currently working on projects for Mercedes F1, which includes a video inside the factory at Brackley for the website. Suckin Rabbits Media is a subsidiary of my media company that offers race clubs (short circuit and road race) a turnkey media service, where we look after their branding, marketing, promotion, sponsorship and potential broadcasting requirements. Club racing has evolved into big business, but the majority of clubs have failed to recognise this, and are being systematically run into the ground by committees that would rather spend meetings bickering over the price of the biscuits”.

“Thankfully the meetings I have had with the Mid Antrim Club have all been about progress. This year the club have appointed several forward thinking and enthusiastic individuals who are determined to see the clubs historic event move onward and upward”. Brian Smith, spoke about the new partnership, “In more recent years the club has been very slow at evolving and reacting to these fast moving times. All you have to do is look at the International road race events such as the UGP, NW200 and the TT. Some would argue these events have become too commercialised, but without commercial income, road races simply cannot happen. It now costs over £70,000 to stage a one-day road race and this money has to come from somewhere. The Mid Antrim 150 has the potential of becoming a much bigger, better and more significant road race and achieving this is now our goal”.

Richard discusses the plans for 2011. “I think most people would agree that Irish road racing receives very poor media coverage. This is staggering when you consider how exciting the racing is. So for 2011 MotorsTV, now available in 45 countries, will broadcast a 90-minute show recorded at the Mid Antrim 150 that Suckin Rabbits Media will produce. After the initial broadcast the show will then be made available to watch in HD at suckinrabbits.com.”

The Suckin Rabbits Media broadcast infrastructure will consist of fixed circuit cameras, high-speed cameras (as seen at the TT), state of the art on board camera’s, apex camera’s and helicopter coverage. Richard, “Up until now this standard of production has been reserved for the international meetings such as the TT, where North One does an incredible job. However, we will be bringing along a comparable broadcast infrastructure along with our own presenters and race commentators. Our aim is to deliver an ultra modern, dynamic and slick production”. Following the broadcast a DVD and BLU-RAY will go on sale featuring the entire racing schedule, an exclusive behind the scenes film documentary about road racing as well as loads of cool extras.

Richard, “All this exposure means that after 65 years the Mid Antrim 150 is finally going global. Not only is this fantastic news for Irish road racing, but it also means the club are now talking with bigger sponsors. We are determined to significantly increase our prize money and also to reduce entry costs. Something the club will confirm shortly”.

As well as the shenanigans that normally take place in Clough each night, one of Northern Ireland’s biggest bands are set to headline on the Friday night. Brian, “We want to encourage people to camp over on the Friday night and enjoy the musical entertainment. Then on the Saturday we will host what is set to be a fantastic days racing”.

See you on the start line boys and girls!!!