Practice

With five races scheduled for the Saturday event the usual happened and the weather closed in.  After 2 glorious weeks that covered Northern Ireland in sunshine by the time Saturday Race Day had arrived so too had the rain.  That meant delays… by well after lunch time only one race had been run and the question was will just one more race be even possible?

Well it was, the weather broke just enough to get a full schedule completed and WOW what a Race Day it was!  Every race was outstanding, there was only one red flag and that was for rain and safety reasons rather than crashes or injuries.  William Dunlop found himself back on the podium again after an outstanding run on the Supertwin machine, then a few moments of drama when rain closed in on a race and the riders wanted the race stopped raised the temperature of the event.  Tempers rose to the point of breaking – all of which accumulated itself in the feature race – The 2017 Vauxhall NW200 Superbike Race.  It was one of the great spectacles this event has had in years and talking about it isn’t enough, you have to watch it and see the ride that Glen Irwin put in on his Ducati, breath taking doesn’t cover it!  Irwin wanted it, Seeley wanted it, Hutchy wanted it, Rutter wanted it.  They all wanted it so badly – Hutchy was riding his bike more like a Subaru WRC powersliding it round the place, Seeley almost ended up sliding down the road after cutting a bit of the roadside grass for The Causeway Coast Council, and Glen Irwin was poetic coming out of every corner.  It was a truly outstanding race.

Make sure you catch the highlight shows on the BBC – I have no idea how they could cut that race down to ‘highlights’ the whole race was a highlight!

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