By Finishing fourth in Road Racing News top ten riders of the 2017 pure road racing season, is feature North West 200 Superbike race winner, Glenn Irwin.
Still a relative newcomer to the pure roads scene, he’s showcased this year the kind of form that makes him now established amongst the leading international road racers worldwide.
Prior to his dazzling feature Superbike success at the North West, he finished a battling fourth in the opening big bike encounter.
The following feature race is regarded by many as one of the greatest international road races, within the modern era.
Photo by Rod Neill
Holding off strong challenges from Ian Hutchinson and event record holder Alastair Seeley, the capacity crowd around the Triangle produced the most overjoyed reaction to a race win in my opinion since Michael Dunlop’s emotional 2008 250 race success.
Following his North West heroics it would be over five months till the Be Wiser Ducati racer returned to roads action, at the Macau Grand Prix.
His second Macau GP venture went superbly, dominating practice and qualifying, unofficially in Q2 dipping under Stuart Easton’s existing lap record on his way to pole position.
Ultimately declared race winner of the 51st Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, he added his name to a very select group of riders to have recorded at least 2 international roads victories in 2017.
More international wins on the horizon next year? at present the sole roads event he’s confirmed to return to is the North West 200, as he leads again the Paul Bird Motorsport run Be Wiser Ducati teams Triangle challenge.
Words by Stevie Rial
