The 20-year-old was due to cut his teeth on the roads at the North West 200 in May but was denied the opportunity after the event was wiped out by a series of setbacks including inclement weather, a bomb scare and an oil spill.

However, Hamilton - who is competing in the Irish Superbike Championship this season - was hungry for another bite at the cherry after getting a taste of racing between the hedges during practice at the North West.

And now he’s been granted a golden opportunity by national road racing star Farquhar, who has taken the youngster under his wing and will supply Hamilton with a 650 Supertwin for Saturday’s Clough meeting plus next week’s Dundrod 150 and Ulster Grand Prix.

Last night, Farquhar told News Letter Sport: “Jamie got in touch with me because he was interested in riding a good 650 at the Ulster Grand Prix.

“I had a chat with him about it and then I managed to sort out a deal with Kawasaki, who are going to help me run him in my team.

“Kawasaki spoke very highly of Jamie because he won the Junior Superstock title for them and we were able to come to an agreement.

“He’ll be riding my 650 at the Mid-Antrim plus Dundrod and then maybe after that we’ll look at doing Killalane and maybe the Scarborough Gold Cup,” Farquhar added.

“He did some practice at the North West but this will be his proper road race debut at the Mid-Antrim on Saturday.”


A beaming Hamilton said he was “counting the minutes” until he could get to grips with Farquhar’s immaculately turned out 650 Kawasaki at Clough.

“It’s going to be a bit different from what I’m used to, but I just can’t wait,” Hamilton said.

“I’m counting the minutes until I get out there. If I could have picked a team to ride for on the roads it would be Ryan’s because he has so much experience and there’s no-one better to ride for if I’m going to do the roads.

“There’s also the Kawasaki link as well because I won the British title for them in 2009 and it was the first time that Kawasaki had won a short circuit championship since 1992.”

Hamilton, who parted company from mentor Harry Corbett in December last year after an unsuccessful foray into the British Supersport Championship, said he had no plans to try and set the world alight at Clough.

“I’m not going out there to do anything stupid,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll be comfortable on the bike and if I am then maybe I’ll push a bit, but if I’m not then I’ll just take my time until I feel comfortable.

“I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get the chance to race at the North West 200, but in saying that if I hadn’t been out in practice then I probably wouldn’t be doing the Mid-Antrim because that’s what put me in the notion.”

Hamilton has been struggling in the Irish Superbike series this year with an ill-handling Kawasaki but has lost none of his belief that he has the ability to compete at the top level.

“I still believe in myself and I know I’m good enough to run at the front,” he said.

He wished to express his thanks to AC Autos for their support.

Adrian Archibald is also riding in the Supertwins class in Farquhar’s colours this season.