Road Racing: History Beckons at the North West 200

Glenn Irwin will arrive on the coast gunning for a double hat-trick, with many of the old sages, former racers and pundits have marked him as the pre-race favourite.

The British Superbikes star has made a truly incredible start to his North West career, having secured victory in all three* Superbike races since his debut in 2017 with Paul Bird’s BeWiser-Ducati Team.  

For 2019, Irwin has moved across to the highly revered Quattro-Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki team. Contesting this year’s BSB championship together, the team will be supplying his Superbike and Superstock machines at the North West, whilst the Ulsterman will also contest the Supertwin class on an ER6 Kawasaki for the CMS/KW Electrical Team. The deals dispel any rumours that Irwin may have been reluctant at returning to the event. Additionally, contesting three different categories mean Irwin will have two full days of practice on the course (Tuesday and Thursday), and the to get his eye in.

Claiming six victories would cement his place amongst the all time greats of the meeting. Phillip McCallen holds the record of five wins in a single year around the 9 mile course. Nobody has ever taken six in a year.

With bikes provided and set up by arguably the best team from the British Superbike paddock, Irwin’s confidence is unsurprisingly very high. Early impressions of the Kawasaki ZX10-RR machine, in a post-season test at the end of 2018, were extremely positive – Irwin beaming as he stated it being the best bike he’d ever ridden.   

Standing in his way of making history will be a plethora of talented and hungry riders. Four of them in particular, will have clear designs of glory for themselves.

Alastair Seeley will be relieved to know that Irwin (at time going to press) has not made a deal to contest the Supersport races. The 39-year old has had a near total monopoly on the intermediate class over the last ten years and, barring injury, will be looking to add to his record tally of 24 wins around the famous Triangle. Of course, Seeley will not be content to just retain his supersport crown. Prior to Irwin’s arrival on the coast, he was the undisputed king across the Superbike and Superstock classes and, with 24 wins to Irwin’s 3 will want to send an emphatic reminder to everyone this year as to who is the real King of the Coast.

Michael Dunlop can never be ruled out at what is effectively his home race. The 29-year old from Ballymoney enjoys the lion’s share of support around the course, owed in part to the success his family have enjoyed over the years at the meeting, and also to the myriad of accomplishments he has achieved in his own illustrious career to date. At this stage, it is expected that Dunlop will again compete in the Superbike class with the Tyco-BMW team, whilst he will also pilot his own prepared Superstock and Supersport machines.   

Of course we cannot ignore the challenges the three Ulstermen will face from the leading British lights in Road Racing. Peter Hickman and Dean Harrison are also highly expected to be amongst the starters across the categories. After a record breaking 2018, both riders will arrive on at the North West confident of genuinely challenging the established front runners.

Hickman has spent the winter further refining his road racing skills, by competing in the annual Suzuki Series over in New Zealand. Joining forces with the Carl Cox Motorsport Team, the TT and BSB race winner secured the runners up spot in the competition, and also claimed victory in the Robert Holden Memorial Race.    

Harrison meanwhile will go to the North West 200 as a factory supported Kawasaki ‘Green Team’ rider. Following his very successful season on the roads – which also saw him claim a victory at the TT – and a full season of BSB racing too, the Silicone Engineering team will now be the premier Kawasaki team at all road race meetings in 2019. Just reward for both rider and team after all their tireless work and improvement over the last couple of seasons.

* Due to adverse weather in 2017, only one Superbike race was possible.

The 2019 edition of the North West 200 will be held from May 12th-18th.