Irwin Takes Double Victory At North West 200
Glenn Irwin and the BeerMonster Ducati team enjoyed a superb day of racing at the FonaCAB/Nicholl Oils International North West 200 today with the Carrickfergus rider claiming both of the Superbike races around the 8.9-mile circuit linking the Northern Ireland towns of Portrush, Portstewart and Coleraine.
It further consolidated Irwin’s tag as the best Superbike rider currently competing at the event as the victories made it eight in a row at the event and continued the Penrith-based PBM team’s excellent start to 2023.
But it wasn’t all-plain sailing as issues in qualifying on Tuesday led to the team switching to his BSB-specification BeerMonster Ducati F23 V4R for Thursday where he qualified in seventh place with a lap of 121.909mph after finding a much more comfortable set-up.
Race day saw dry, sunny conditions all around the course with the opening six-lap Superbike encounter seeing Glenn slot into third place on the opening lap. Locked in battle for the first three laps with Michael Dunlop, Alastair Seeley, Davey Todd and Dean Harrison, positions changed regularly but Glenn hit the front on lap three with a speed of 122.400mph helping him immediately open a 0.6 second advantage over Todd.
Continuing to lead on the fourth lap, Irwin extended his advantage over the chasing pack, but the race was red flagged after an incident as the riders came along the coast road. The result was ultimately declared a result at the end of lap three with Glenn getting the verdict over Todd by 0.634 seconds.
Conditions remained good for the feature NW200 Superbike race later in the day and the race followed a similar pattern with all but Todd battling for the win once more. Having led on the opening lap, Glenn was pushed back to third a lap later, but he again responded on the third lap after a lap of 124.362mph saw him open a gap of more than a second.
Shortly afterwards, the race was stopped once more due to an incident, but Glenn was again declared the winner, his winning margin over Seeley being 1.068s to claim a record-breaking eighth successive Superbike win on the Causeway Coast course.
Glenn Irwin: “It’s an amazing feeling to win two more Superbike races although winning under red flags is never ideal so I hope the riders involved are all OK. From a personal point of view, it’s been a tough week and we’ve had to turn things around. I knew what I wanted from the bike and it’s safe to say I didn’t have that on Tuesday. The team changed the bike for me though and it was faultless. It took me a while to understand everything, and I haven’t always been involved in such close battles around here in the Superbike races. That made the slipstream a bit tricky, and all the boys were riding fantastic, so I had to work hard. I tried to slow them up through Magherabuoy to get the jump on them on the way out and that allowed me to open a bit of gap, which obviously proved crucial. I’ve got to say a big thanks to Paul Bird and the team for giving me such a great package and it’s just great to win in front of my home crowd again.”
Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-ordinator: “To come away with two wins after such limited track time
on Tuesday and Thursday is simply phenomenal. As Glenn says, you’d prefer to win a race which goes the distance, and our best wishes go to the injured riders, but he rode superbly and timed his moves to perfection. We had a few issues to begin with, but we got the bike sorted for Glenn and, after a long week, coming away with two wins ahead of such a strong field is just what we wanted. It continues the strong form we’ve shown in BSB at Silverstone and Oulton Park so let’s keep the ball rolling at Donington next weekend.”
Anchor Bar Superbike race (3 laps)
1 Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati)
2 Michael Dunlop (Honda)
3 Dean Harrison (Kawasaki)
4 Michael Rutter (Honda)
5 James Hillier (Yamaha)
6 John McGuinness (Honda)
Merrow Hotel & Spa Superbike race (3 laps)
1 Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati)
2 Alastair Seeley (BMW)
3 Dean Harrison (Kawasaki)
4 Michael Dunlop (Honda)
5 John McGuinness (Honda)
6 Michael Rutter (Honda)
Pictures courtesy of Double Red: Glenn Irwin (2) at the North West 200
