Lee Johnston and Dean Harrison are set to renew their rivalry at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough this weekend with the duo contesting the Bob Smith Spring Cup, the first of four meetings to be held at the North Yorkshire venue in 2021.

Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha) held the upper hand at last September’s Gold Cup taking four of the five 600cc victories, including the feature event, and has taken no less than 13 wins at the venue in the last two years.

But with Harrison reunited with his Silicone Engineering Kawasaki after a one-off ride with Dafabet Racing last September, the Bradford rider will be confident of turning the tables on his good friend this time around and increase his impressive tally of 83 wins around the 2.43-mile woodland circuit.

The pairing have three 600cc races over the course of the two days, including Sunday’s feature eight-lap race, and they won’t have it all their own way with Davey Todd leading the opposition. It will be Todd’s second appearance at Oliver’s Mount, his only other visit coming at the Barry Sheene Festival in 2017, and he’ll line up on the Wilson Craig Racing Honda.

Mike Norbury (DC Racing Kawasaki) has proven to be a thorn in the side of Johnston and Harrison in recent times as he continues to establish himself as a major force at the venue whilst Dominic Herbertson, team-mate to Norbury in the Thundersport series, will be on the Cowton Racing Kawasaki at Oliver’s Mount.

There’s a strong Irish contingent with Adam McLean expected to be their best hope, the Tobermore rider having impressed on his previous appearances at the woodland circuit. BE Racing’s Paul Jordan and Mike Browne are also on the entry, the latter making his debut as is former Newcomers Manx Grand Prix winner Thomas Maxwell and compatriot Darryl Tweed. Neil Kernohan also makes the trip over from Ireland.

James Hind (IL Kawasaki), Rob Hodson (Dafabet Racing Kawasaki), Joey Thompson, Tom Weeden and Brad Vicars should also be well to the fore whilst former MotoGP rider Chris Burns makes his road racing debut on a second Wilson Craig Racing Honda.

Such is the size of the 600cc entry, three heats will take place on Saturday with two races each for the A and B qualifiers on Sunday.

Hind, who has impressed greatly on the roads in the last two seasons, will be one of the favourites for honours in the two Supertwins races, where he’ll be riding the IL Racing Paton alongside team boss Ian Lougher, the record 142-time race winner back for another season.

McLean will fancy his chances of success in the two races as will Herbertson, Norbury and Hodson but arguably the man they’ll have to beat is Jamie Coward on the KTS Racing Kawasaki. He’s been the dominant force in the Supertwins class at the Mount in recent times so will be hoping to continue that trend.

Todd, Burns, Browne and Maxwell are also entered in the Supertwin class as is veteran Jim Hodson on a second Dafabet Racing Kawasaki machine.

Harrison and Coward should be the main contenders in the Classic Superbike races but there’s plenty of depth in the field with Jordan, Norbury, Hodson, Weeden, Kernohan and Vicars lining up as are David Bell, Adrian Harrison and Adam Child.

Lee Crawford/Scott Hardie are the clear favourites in the three F2 Sidecar races with their stiffest opposition expected to be Conrad Harrison/Andy Winkle and Steve and Matty Ramsden.