British Superbike Championship front runner Storm Stacey pulled off a major shock after claiming a pair of victories on his much-anticipated North West 200 debut.
The 23-year old was making his first road racing appearance at the Northern Ireland event but showed few signs of inexperience, Stacey acclimatising to the discipline en route to victory in the Superstock and Superbike 2 races.
A race winner at BSB level, Stacey is the latest in a long line of short track racers that have tried their hand at the NW200 in recent years, such as Glenn Irwin, Richard Cooper and Josh Brookes.
However, Stacey’s lack of road racing credits made him a long shot for victory to many, making his performance against a host of seasoned competitors, including Michael Dunlop and Dean Harrison, all the more remarkable.
Nevertheless, after fending off Dunlop to claim a stunning win in the Superstock race aboard his Alpha Racing BMW M 1000 RR, he’d go on to be classified the winner in the blue riband Superbike 2 race on the AJN Steelstock Ducati Panigale V4 R he races in BSB.
While his success in the latter was somewhat fortuitous as he was leading at the time of an impromptu red flag – a stoppage that ultimately led to a called result – his success notably ended a streak of 12 consecutive Superbike wins by Irwin.
“Unbelievable,” Stacey told BBC Sport NI after the Superstock race.
“The goal here was just to come here and have a good, successful North West 200, go home happy and continue with BSB.
“I did promise Stuart Higgs [BSB Series Director] I would go easy, but you get a bit carried away when you’re racing, unfortunately.
“I really enjoyed that race, battling with Michael [Dunlop] is– it’s a new thing for me, I’ve never battled with Michael.
Ducati scored a whitewash of victories in the Superbike and Supersport classes with four wins from four.
Prior to Stacey’s success in the second Superbike race, Irwin had made it 12-in-a-row on his Nitrous Competitions Ducati in Superbike Race 1, while Dunlop collected a pair of successes on the Ducati Panigale V2 in the Supersport class.
What is the North West 200?
The North West 200 – held between the Northern Irish towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush in Causeway Coast and Glens – is one of the annual jewels in the road racing calendar.
Second only to the Isle of Man TT in terms of global status, the NW200 is run on an 8.970-mile street circuit known as ‘the Triangle’ for the way it links the three towns its races through.
However, while the event is held on public roads like the TT, it comprises traditional grid-to-flag races, unlike the time trial format of the Manx isle.
Despite the proximity of multiple bikes on track, speeds on the public highways can exceed 200mph.
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- Motorcycles
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