Swanton had a treble at the last Irish Championship meeting at Mondello and is obviously the man in form.

At present Swanton leads the Championship with 119.5 points. Second place is taken by Newtown Ards rider Kirk Jamison who has 105 points and he will go close to beating Swanton tomorrow.

Brian McCormick from Waterford is in third place in the championship with 99.5 points followed be Coleraine rider James Dickson on 93.

However, a major danger to Swanton and Jamison will come from Michael Pearson from Ballygowan who hasn't had the best of luck this season and was involved in a pile-up at the start of the North West 200.

Pearson has 90 points and is in fifth place.

On Sunday, it's the turn of the Trials world when another round of the British Championship takes place at Dunmore mountain near Ballynahinch. Graeme Jarvis is the man to watch at this meeting which is promoted by the Lightweight club. Starting time is 11.00am.

Meanwhile, Britain's Bradley Smith heads to the Grand Prix of Catalunya in bullish mood, despite being out-gunned in his last outing. Oxfordshire-based Smith moved up from 11th on the starting grid to finish eighth in the Alice Grand Prix of Italy at Mugello on SundAnd the 16-year-old's achievement was all the more commendable as his Repsol Honda 125cc machine was patently down on power compared to the Aprilia machine of race winner and current world championship leader Hector Faubel.

But heading into tomorrow's practice for the championship's seventh round at the 2.9-mile Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Smith, lying eighth in the overall standings, was confident of an improved showing.

He said: " It may not have been a great result for me at Mugello but you have to finish the race to take the points and that is what I did.

"I made too many mistakes during the opening laps at Mugello and the group escaped, but I made a good start off the grid and that is something positive.

"I found a good race pace and my lap times were similar to the frontrunners, so that is positive as well."

Meanwhile, in MotoGP action, Italy's Valentino Rossi will be out to regain first place in the rankings following victory on home turf last time out.

Rossi, a five-time world champion in motorcycling's premier class, currently lies second overall but only nine points behind Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner.

And fresh from his Mugello win, Rossi, of Fiat Yamaha, said: "Barcelona is always a great race for me and I have won there the last three years with Yamaha, so hopefully we can do it again.

"And I got a fantastic reception when I won the race at Jerez earlier in the season, so hopefully I can start the same kind of party in Barcelona.

" Dani Pedrosa will have a lot of support this weekend and I expect him to be a difficult rival once again."