MORE than 8,000 motorcyclists roared into the city centre on Sunday for the 15th Spring Surprise Bike Show.

The event is one of the biggest free motorcycle shows in the south of England and took place in the market square for the third year running.

Last year, around 4,500 bikers attended the annual meet, which is organised by the Salisbury Motorcycle Action Group (MAG).

Local rep Fin Colson said: “It was amazing, everybody loved it. The show is about bringing motorcycles into the square for the public to wander around and the motorcyclists to chat.

“The square was full and we were also using the car parks. Around 80 per cent of the motorcyclists were local, coming from Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Oxfordshire.

A lot of the trade stands are now coming from the bigger events and we are getting the larger show bikes coming in. The Blue Boar Road closure worked well and we had over 30 volunteer stewards. A big thank you to everyone.”

The event included trophies, a cash draw and trade stands.

The Best in Show trophy was awarded to Ian Farnborough from Sturminster Newton for his Suzuki GX400 while the Classic trophy went to Nick Ray from Southampton for his Kawasaki Z900 and the Lightweight trophy went to Jim McCann from Salisbury for his modified scooter. 

Fin said: “The marshals and SP4 Security Solutions did a brilliant job and out of 8,000 bikes, there were only four penalty notices handed out.”

The trade stands included one run by Salisbury MAG where coffee and cake helped to raise more than £450 for the Stars Appeal Breast Cancer Unit.