Roy Adams reflects on a rain-ruined North West 200

All week the forecast had predicted a near biblical deluge for Saturday.

True to its word the rain started early in the morning, but didn’t really start to hit hard till after the roads closed at 10am.

Despite that, the first race started more or less on schedule. A number of riders crashed on the second lap, with one splitting an engine casing, causing the red flags to come out due to the oil. None of the riders suffered serious injury.

Delay after delay was announced, but in truth the weather was making sure that there was never going to be any more racing. We heard rumours of a ‘window in the weather’ that was supposed to come in about lunchtime.

It didn’t materialise and when Mervyn Whyte took 3 riders round to inspect the track, all said it was too dangerous. That was the end, as with rain becoming heavier race organisers were forced to admit defeat just after 3pm.

Event Director Mervyn Whyte said: “I carried out a final course inspection with John McGuinness, Michael Rutter and Stuart Easton and there is a huge amount of surface water, particularly on the coast road, that would make racing impossible.

“I’m gutted for the fans who have turned out in their thousands today to support us in spite of the weather. In the interests of everyone’s safety we have no choice but to make this decision.”

The decision to abandon the meeting must have been soul destroying for Mervyn Whyte to have to make, but the simple truth is that had racing started we would almost certainly have had more accidents. I saw some of the standing water along the coast road, and the fact is that track was unrideable. There was no other decision he could have made.

It seems now that various government agencies are to be approached to allow road closures to be modified to allow the racing to take place over the course of the week, as happens in the Isle of Man.

In 2008, when the Ulster Grand Prix suffered the same fate, similar suggestions were made. It works at the Southern 100, a much smaller meeting than either the North West or the Ulster Grand Prix. Practice for a couple of days then only two or three races per day.

I still say that Southern is the best race meeting of the year. The North West and the UGP simply are too big to try to run them in a single day.

Anyway, back to the North West. After practice, which was badly affected by weather conditions, the first three races of the North West were held on Thursday night.

The first of them, the Supersport 600, brought heartbreak to Michael Dunlop.

On a wet and slippery track Michael never put a wheel wrong, crossing the finish line in first place. He then faced an agonising 43.52 seconds, the time difference in the first and second groups.

With Seeley’s bike having holed the radiator during practice stewards gave him a place in the second group, playing directly into his hands. After a lightening start, he had a clear road with no spray in his face.

When the times were corrected, Seeley took the race win, by just 1.3 seconds. Michael was gutted, but said: “That’s the way it goes and we got beat. It’s just one of those things.”

Guy Martin finished almost 15 seconds behind Seeley, taking yet another podium, but still denied the North West win he so badly wants.

We only had a single local rider in this race. Jack McIlvenna, from Randalstown, retired on the final lap having had a fastest lap of 98.818mph.

With the retirement of Ryan Farquhar, the Supertwins race was always going to be wide open. Farquhar took the win in last years race, the first time for the twins at the Triangle circuit. Riding a KMR ER6, McWilliams was hounded all the way by Kilrea’s William Davison.

On the final lap, Davison slipped under McWilliams at Black Hill, only to lose the front end and crash into a whin bush. He was unhurt, but his bike had some fairly major repairs to have made before Saturday. Sportingly, he was lent a fuel tank by Ryan Farquhar. At the line, James Hillier had moved up and was right on McWilliams, just missing out by .8 of a second.

Another of Farquhar’s bikes, this time in the hands of Jamie Hamilton, was third.

Ballymena’s Mark Shields was the only local man in this race. Starting in the B Group, Mark had a fastest lap of 91.797mph, taking 20th place on the road.

The final race of Thursday night was the 6 lap Superstock.

Gary Johnston was chased hard by Bruce Anstey in the early part of the race, with Seeley having to recover from a sluggish start. Johnston dropped off the pace when his bike developed a misfire, later traced to a fault in the electronics relating to the quickshifter. When Johnston slipped back it allowed Anstey to take a short lived lead, as it wasn’t long before Seeley made his move.

Both men were wheel to wheel, but at the line Seeley took his first win, nipping ahead of the fourth lap. Anstey was only .2 behind at the finish, with Johnston dropping back over 16 seconds but still finishing on the podium.

Also running well was Dubliner Derek Shiels, who was riding for Randalstown man Chris Dowd. He finished in 5th place, a seriously creditable result for what is a privately funded race team. Stephen Thompson from Crumlin finished in 17th place having lapped at 108.539mph.

Saturday, as I said above, saw dreadful weather. Michael Dunlop claimed his first four stroke win, coming from behind Bruce Anstey, who led at the end of the opening lap.

When the red flags were hung out as a result of a number of crashes Michael was .9 of a second ahead of Anstey, with Lee Johnston a very creditable third. Lee relinquished his Superbike ride before the meeting, deciding that his leg, which he broke 4 weeks ago, would not be up to the pounding it would get on a big bike.

Again, our only local rider in this race was Stephen McIlvenna. Better known as Jack, he took his R6 to 22nd place, lapping at 97.182mph.

Sadly, that was about it for the North West 2013.

I know how hard it was for the Dundrod club to lift itself back up after the dreadful weather that caused the cancellation of the 2008 Ulster Grand Prix. I’ve no doubt that Mervyn Whyte and the Coleraine club will be back, hopefully with a considerable injection of cash from the Government.

I’ve heard figures of upwards of £4m that the meeting is responsible for putting into the economy in the Triangle area, and upwards of £9m into the Northern Ireland economy as a whole. For the Government to contribute £70,000, which is what it does at present, is an insult to all concerned.

The Police and Fire Games, the City of Culture and Irish Open Golf tournament have hundreds of thousands of pounds thrown at them, and they are one off events. At least the North West can say they have been running since the early 1920’s and will give back over a period of time.

ISB TO MONDELLO

This weekend the short circuit guys have a run, when the ISB series goes to Mondello Park.

I have had no pre event information from the organisers, but having read the regulations, racing is to be held on the International track. Practice is due to get under way on Saturday at 9am, with a set of races in the afternoon.

There will be two races per class on Sunday, with a short warm up period on Sunday morning.