(Roads closed 9.15pm – 7pm):
Race 1 – The Junction Retail & Leisure Park SUPERSPORT RACE
Race 2 – ANCHOR BAR SUPERBIKE RACE
Race 3 – JOHN M PATERSON SUPERTWIN RACE
Race4 – CP HIRE SUPERSTOCK RACE
Race5 – MERROW HOTEL & SPA NW200 SUPERBIKE RACE
Saturday Race Day – the big day for the annual NW200 and what a day it was. The weather forecast had promised to be a scorcher and guess what – even for Northern Ireland it delivered!
Thursday’s racing had already been a massive success with no major incidents and all three races running their full distance with real world class racing on display. Saturday promised another 5 races but could it deliver on what Thursday had already given us?
Well the short answer is yes! The weather was glorious, a bit breezy, but all that really did was hide the sunburn! The racing was outstanding and with only one red flag on the first lap of the final race – of which those involved are fine.
Just want let everyone know I'm fine. I thought my engine seized but it seems I just hit a false neutral at an (1-3) pic.twitter.com/hxcgvQhZ1c
— Nadieh Schoots (@NadiehSchoots) May 19, 2018
The standing of racing was fantastic and the (reported) crowds of 120,000 people loved it!
This all feels surreal. It's not meant to be sunny. It's not meant to run like clockwork. What is there to complain about? #NW200
— @AHardyBreed (@AHardyBreed) May 19, 2018
Glen Irwin was dishing out the lessons on how to ride a superbike, taking 2 wins in the class, meaning he had 3 in a row at the NW200, remembering he took the 2017 Feature Race in fantastic style. Joey Thompson – a new crowd favourite missed out on taking a Supertwin win being piped at the final Juniper Hill Chicane, it was breath taking stuff and an amazing example of how good the NW200 can be if blessed with a little bit of good fortune and weather. Really well done to all those involved.
If you missed it the BBC still have the entire day available for viewing – but I don’t know how long it will be available for – find it here : https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/northern-ireland/43801720
And let’s not forget Jonathan Rea popped along for a private lap, evening stopping to say hello a few times!
Check out my full gallery of all the action from the day’s racing here : https://tbni.blog/2018/06/04/2018-vauxhall-international-north-west-200-saturday-race-day-gallery-saturday-19th-may-2018/
Without further delay here are the results of an amazing day’s racing at Northern Ireland’s North Coast :
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!
With the Thursday night Racing Session getting suspended due to a race related incident the Saturday Race Schedule had the extra race bumped into the schedule, meaning a full program of six races.
Racing started sharp and an excellent first race was unfortunately the only one of the schedule to run its course.
Race 2 was stopped following an incident involving Bruce Anstey who incidentally managed a speed trough the trap of a whopping 209.4mph! Thankfully Bruce walked away from the crash after some roadside medical treatment.
Race 3 was then stopped and the remainder of the meeting cancelled following the death of Malachi Mitchell Thomas.
https://tbni.blog/2016/05/15/nw200-2016-a-tragic-end-rip-malachi-mitchell-thomas/
After a great Thursday night racing and the weather being exceptionally kind, Saturday rolled up. When I left the house it was glorious! So sunny it was almost hazy. I had to stop half way there to put my waterproofs on as it looked like it was going to chuck it down, and by the time I arrived although it hadn’t rained it looked like it was going to, big time! It was dark and there was some proper big ass black clouds floating menacingly over head. It did not take long for them to burst! And so began the theme for the day, sunny, windy, cloudy, raining, heavy ass raining, sunny, warm, windy, cloudy… and repeat!
The first race of the day had to be cancelled after a couple of restarts but from about 1.30 -2.00PM we did get some more continuous according to plan racing, it even looked like, for a short while, that the road closure contingencies would be used to get the final race in however as the winds had picked up again the riders and management decided against that.
So all in all it was a great days racing and thankfully, ultimately no one was fatally injured. A rider was critically injured as was a spectator when a bike left the track and hit her in a garden, a tragic freak accident, however thankfully and mercifully all involved and injured people are now well on the mend, and all are expected to make a full recovery.
See you next year! Onto the TT!