Eleven NW200 SBK Wins In A Row For Hager PBM Ducati’s Irwin

The grand finale, the big race today, the Merrow Hotel & Spa Superbike NW200 race was considered by many a tale of Glenn Irwin vs Davey Todd, take three.

Six times NW200 winner Todd made the No.1 start with not far behind, you guessed it Hager PBM Ducati’s Irwin. Dean Harrison made an above average start and by Church Corner was solidly holding third position.

At the end of lap one, going to the form book, Todd and Irwin were out front, separated by just under 0.55 of a second.

Harrison in third, wasn’t far behind, overall, 1.465 in arrears to lap one pace setter Todd.

The Oliver’s Mount lap record holder, despite the power deficit between Superbikes and Superstock machines was right there in the mix, keeping tabs throughout lap two on Todd and Irwin.

With two laps completed, the top three were covered by under one second!

Harrison in third had set the fastest ever Superstock time at the NW200, lapping at 4 minutes 18.392 seconds.

As lap four dawned, Irwin had pocketed P1, moving 0.343 in front of Todd.

There was disappointment for John McGuinness MBE, as technical issues cut short his race tenure.

Lap four would see Irwin slightly increase the race-lead to close to half a second. Harrison in third, was now 1.588 behind Irwin.

Todd strikingly grabbed the race lead off Irwin through the slip stream effect on lap five only for the BSB Championship leader to again fight back.

Then another lead change, then another one, hard to keep up!

With one lap to go 0.611 was the margin facing Todd, to chase down Irwin.

Was more history beckoning for Irwin, was Todd going to make it four wins in a week?

Irwin led at university, at the Mill Road Roundabout and would keep P1 till the race end, making it an unprecedented eleven Superbike race wins in a row.

Second place finisher Todd was 0.464 behind, none the less, quite the Northwest 200 for the 74-plate holder.

Michael Dunlop collected fourth behind fellow Honda jockey Harrison, Paul Jordan took an excellent fifth place finish.

Bathams Racing’s Michael Rutter, Craig Neve obtained sixth, seventh, Michael Browne ended a very productive NW200 with an eighth-place finish on overall timing ahead of James Hillier, who attained a ten second penalty for going straight on at Mather’s Chicane.

Cookstown 100 Grand Final winner Dominic Herbertson placed tenth whilst others ending their Northwest 200 with decent results included:

Nathan Harrison (12th), Gary McCoy (13th), Sam West (15th), Julian Trummer (16th), Eddy Ferre (17th), Laurent Hoffmann (20th) and Luca Gottardi (23rd).

NW200 – Merrow Hotel & Spa Superbike Race Result:

1st – Glenn Irwin

2nd – Davey Todd

3rd – Dean Harrison

4th – Michael Dunlop

5th – Paul Jordan

6th – Michael Rutter

7th – Craig Neve

8th – Michael Browne

9th – James Hillier

10th – Dominic Herbertson

11th – Erno Kostamo

12th – Nathan Harrison

13th – Gary McCoy

14th – David Johnson

15th – Sam West

16th – Julian Trummer

17th – Eddy Ferre

18th – Michael Evans

19th – Amalric Blanc

20th – Laurent Hoffmann

21st – Emmet O’Grady

22nd – Kris Duncan

23rd – Luca Gottardi

24th – James Chawke

25th – Sean McTaggart

26th – Sam Johnson

27th – Paul Williams

28th – Olivier Lupberger

29th – Liam Chawke

Photo credit: Derek Wilson

Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou