North West 200 - 2022

Hi everyone and welcome to an extra blog from myself, Dan at our Leeds store . This weekend just gone, the North West 200 returned after an absence of two years due to the Covid pandemic.

Glenn Irwin was looking to continue his fine form on the coast road he knows so well. A lap takes around 4 minutes 20 seconds on the Superbikes to complete the 9 miles, and speeds up to 200mph on closed roads that people will be using to get to work and do the school run during the week is unbelievable and a must for any road racing fan.

Glenn had a tricky start to his weekend, after going out in the practice sessions on a newly built bike for the NW200, he wasn’t too keen and didn’t have a good feeling, and admitted that “I was looking forward to doing 200mph, but it wasn’t fun out there” So he swapped back to his BSB spec bike for qualifying and smashed the lap record to sit on pole of the Superbike races on Saturday but also set a time fast enough to see him start from pole for the Superstock race on Thursday evening.

Glenn didn’t ride on Thursday night after conditions worsened during the day. Rain and bad spray from the back of the other bikes made visibility really bad so Glenn made the decision not to take part and save himself for the Superbike races on Saturday.

So race day and a total of 6 races due to the Supertwin race from Thursday being run on Saturday due to the bad weather.

Glenn’s weekend started with the first Superbike race. Glenn got the holeshot away from the line and led the first group of riders away down to the first tight hairpin of the lap. Breaking the slipstream is vital at the North West as the straights are so long and can really help the following riders, Glenn and Davey broke away and it was really just those two battering it out for the race win.

Apart from a few occasions, Glenn led the whole race from start to finish, a very comfortable and confident ride from the Northern Irishman who took the race win by only 0.2 seconds ahead of Davey Todd on his Honda.

So that’s 5 in a row for Glenn now in the Superbike class and the first rider in North West 200 history to do so!! The hashtag #Hi5tory was being used in a lot of social media posts and rightly so, but could he make it 6 in the final race of the weekend?

In the Superstock race, Glenn made the decision to retire the bike after running on at a few of the corners and conserve his energy and concentrate on the final Superbike race of the day and the final race of the weekend.

So here it is, the second and final Superbike race of the weekend, but unfortunately, it saw a number of riders not start the race due to a tyre problem with a batch of Dunlop tyres, but nonetheless, it was a top-quality field.

Glenn once again got away from the line in the lead and never really looked back. By the end of lap 4, Glenn was in the lead by 3.8 seconds from Richard Cooper. Glenn took the race by the scruff of the neck and rode beautifully and seemed to be at one with his Honda and the famous North West circuit. The local hero romped home to a historic win and even had a chance to celebrate on the last lap taking in all the applause from the adoring home fans.

So out with #Hi5tory and in with a new one #6ixtory!! 6 wins in a row in the last 6 Superbike races and all on different manufacturers of motorcycles 2 x Ducati, 2 x Kawasaki and now 2 on a Honda.

Mega congratulations to Glenn and the whole Honda team, but focus and concentration now fixes on to the next round of the domestic British Superbike Championship which takes place this weekend from Donington Park.

Thanks for reading

Danny