A Hat Trick of Victories for Steve at the NW200

Steve is being hailed as the King of the Roads after riding to a win in each of the two Supersport races, setting a new lap record and securing his third successive victory in the feature race at the North West 200 meeting in Ireland on Saturday.

First race on the agenda in a busy day of racing for Steve was the DeWait Performance Tools Superbike race run over five laps of the 8.966-mile Triangle Course that runs on public roads between the towns of Portrush, Portstewart and Coleraine.

After encountering a few stability problems in qualifying, Steve started the race from a second row grid position but the warm up lap threw up some very different problems.

“I was going through Black Hill towards Juniper on the warm-up lap when a hare ran across the road in front of me. I missed it so it can count itself lucky, where I come from that’s dinner!” he laughed.

By the end of lap one he was in fifth place but up with the leading group. He was batting with Michael Rutter for third throughout lap two but Rutter eventually got the better of him and edged further towards the front.

As they crossed the finish line there was only a second separating the first four riders with Rutter taking the win from Guy Martin and John McGuinness and Steve just two tenths of a second behind in a very close fourth place.

Next up was the Club SOL Portrush Supersport race and Steve made a start from pole position. He didn’t manage to capitalise on his front row start and lost ground, but was soon back in contention in third place. He fought tooth and nail in a group of seven riders who were all vying for the lead and drafting each other along the long fast straights taking turn about to run at the front.

But going into the final lap it was Steve that had shot to the front ahead of Alistair Seeley, Bruce Anstey and his AIM teammate Ian Hutchinson with Ian Lougher tagged onto the back. The group encountered some backmarkers and Steve was able to break the tow and pull a small gap leaving the other four contenders to chase after him. But Steve maintained his lead and crossed the finish line with a three second advantage over Seeley and Lougher to take his first ever class win at the NW200 beating Bruce Anstey’s existing lap record by nearly two seconds with a lap of 4m 30.792s – 119.197mph set on the last of the five laps.

Later in the day Steve took to the grid for the feature race of the day, The Blackhorse Motorcycle Finance NW200 Superbike race, which he had won in both 2006 and 2007.

Steve made a good start on lap one of six and slotted into second place at University Corner but on the run to Metropole was pushed back to fifth behind Michael Rutter.

But Steve was hungry for the win and on lap two used every inch of the road to blast past both Rutter and McGuinness into third place.

Lap four saw race leader Guy Martin touring with a problem and Steve was quick to take the advantage and take command at the front. He could sniff the victory and tried to put some distance between himself and the following riders but was drafted by Bruce Anstey along the long fast straight on the run towards Metropole.

Six riders were covered by less than a couple of seconds and anyone of them was in for a shout of the win. On the final lap Steve was shuffled back to third place but drafted back past Rutter and Cameron Donald to take the lead and held on for grim life to take the chequered flag for his third successive win in the prestigious event.

Steve had little time for the podium celebrations, as he was straight back out on track for the final race of the day.

But the race was red flagged after the first lap when Guy Martin crashed unhurt at Black Hill. At the restart Hutchinson was first to show his hand and led the field around Bally Sally roundabout. But Steve was in his tyre tracks and forged ahead as they sped towards Metropole. There followed a mighty battle of wits between Steve, Hutchinson Seeley and Steve Brogan all trying to draft each other along the straights. The group were separated by less than 1 ½ seconds with the two AIM Yamaha riders in the thick of the action.

Eventually they were joined by Keith Amor and Ian Lougher and it was anyone’s guess as to the outcome. Hutchinson was seen to slow and retire with a burst water hose leaving the way clear for Steve to head the pack.

As the group hurtled towards the final chicane it was Steve who had a slight advantage and he crossed the finish line to take his third win of the day ahead of Seeley and Lougher.

“That wasn’t a bad day at the office was it?” said a delighted Steve. “For me it was mega as I have some disappointment already this year. I led the Le Mans 24-hour race for the first two hours before we had to pull out with a clutch issue and then led the Albacete six hour race for a while before ending up in fourth place so to get the hat trick today is the icing on the cake. The team has done a fantastic job and given me the ingredients to win the main race of the day so I have to say a big thank you to them.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet, maybe I need to just get away on my own for a while and think about what I have achieved here today.

Steve will take a short rest before travelling to the Isle of Man to begin his practice for the TT races where he was awarded the Best Newcomer award last year after setting the fastest ever lap by a newcomer around the 37.73-mile mountain course.

Practice begins on Saturday (May 24) and a full programme of racing is scheduled to start the following Saturday May 31st through to Friday June 6.

Steve Claims Pole At North West 200

Steve has claimed pole position for the start of the two Supersport races at the Kennedy International North West 200 races on Saturday.

He had been running pole for most of the session until Alastair Seeley posted a quick lap towards the end of Thursday’s final qualifying to take over at the top of the timing sheet.. But Steve was quick to respond with a time of 4m 33.749 seconds on his very last lap beating Seeley by 0.503s to start Saturday’s two Supersport races from pole position. Last year Steve finished second and a very close fourth in the two six-lap events and will be hungry for the win this time around.

A previous three times winner in the Superbike class and the current lap record holder, Steve will start the Superbike race and the feature race of the day, The Kennedy International North West 200, from a second row grid position after encountering a few niggling problems with the suspension on the AIM Yamaha R1.

But the K-tech people have been working hard throughout the week and the bikes will all be in tiptop condition for the start of the four races on Saturday.

“It’s been a bit busy for me over the last few weeks as I have done a lot of testing plus two World Endurance races and some BSB races in the run up to the roads season. It has actually helped me because although I train hard all the time you can’t beat miles on the machine to keep bike fit. For example for the Le Mans 24-hour race you do more miles in testing and on race day than you do at a full BSB season but on saying that its slightly different coming over here and racing on public roads and I still need to get a good few laps under my belt in practice to get settled back into road mode.

“We seem to have found a good race set up now and I will be trying my best on Saturday to pull off four good results.”
Roads close at 10am with racing starting at 11am.

Thanks to Alan Armstrong for the acton images and Andrea Campbel for the podium.

Watch the race online