2008 North West 200 Races


The 2008 North West 200 took place on Saturday 17 May at the 8.966 mile circuit, dubbed "The Triangle", based around the towns of Coleraine, Portrush and Portstewart, in Northern Ireland. The meeting was overshadowed by the death of Northern Irish rider Robert Dunlop, the record-holder for wins at the circuit, who was killed in a practice crash on 15 May. The 47-year-old had been travelling in a group of three riders at the Mather's Cross section of the course, when his bike seized at 160 mph. He would later succumb to his injuries in a Coleraine hospital. Robert's sons Michael and William continued to race at the meeting, with Michael winning the 250cc race.

Practice

dominated qualifying for the 250cc race, the first to be contested on race day. McGuinness went round the 8.966 mile circuit in a time of 4'57.791, the only rider to break five minutes and qualified on pole by over 3 seconds from the Hondas of Michael Dunlop and Paul Robinson. Hondas took the first eight places on the grid, with Henrik Voit's Aprilia the best non-Honda in ninth. McGuinness also dominated Superbike practice, being fastest both on Tuesday and on Thursday. Having achieved a 4'25.377 on Tuesday, he lowered that mark by over 3 seconds to a 4'22.342 on Thursday. Michael Rutter on the NW200-backed Ducati qualified 2nd on a 4'22.999, with the rest in the 4'24s or higher. This session sets the grid for both Superbike races. Steve Plater qualified on pole for the Supersport races, recording a lap of 4'33.749 on Thursday to put him half a second clear of Alastair Seeley, who qualified second, with Keith Amor qualifying 3rd, to give three different nations placed in the top three places. Amor would go two places better in the qualifying session for the Superstock race. In the fourth session, he set a time of 4'26.446, which would give him the pole by over 1.5 seconds. Seeley was second with his time of 4'28.029 coming in session three and Rutter was third, with a 4'28.138 set in session four. Michael Wilcox was the clear pacesetter in the 125cc qualifying, setting a pole lap of 5'17.528 and was on top by nearly three seconds from the Aprilia of David Lemon with the Hondas of Mark Curtin, Michael Dunlop and Chris Palmer rounding out the top five. Leo Aldersley's Yamaha was fastest in the 400cc session, which occurred at the same time as the 125cc session as those two races are contested in the one race, albeit separated on track. His 5'15.329 was almost three seconds faster than second placed qualifier and fellow Yamaha rider, Oliver Linsdell. Les Shand's Kawasaki was third, with the best Honda belonging to Manxman David Madsen-Mygdal lining up fourth.

Races

Race 1; 250cc Race final standings

Saturday 17 May 2008 4 laps – 35.724 miles
RankRiderTeamTimeSpeed
1 Michael DunlopHonda 250cc19' 34.316109.516 mph
2 Christian ElkinHonda 250cc+ 1.029109.420 mph
3 John McGuinnessHonda 250cc+ 1.763109.352 mph
4 Paul RobinsonHonda 250cc+ 22.725107.437 mph
5 Andrew NeillHonda 250cc+ 24.543107.274 mph
6 Davy MorganHonda 250cc+ 24.614107.268 mph
7 Denver RobbHonda 250cc+ 39.308105.969 mph
8 Mark LunneyHonda 250cc+ 42.014105.733 mph
9 Emlyn HughesHonda 250cc+ 42.504105.961 mph
10 Neil RichardsonYamaha 250cc+ 44.434105.531 mph

Fastest Lap: Michael Dunlop, 4'51.975 on lap 4

Race 2; 1000cc Superbike Race final standings

Saturday 17 May 2008 *5 laps – 44.690 miles
RankRiderTeamTimeSpeed
1 Michael RutterDucati21' 52.169122.609 mph
2 Guy MartinHonda+ 0.810122.534 mph
3 John McGuinnessHonda+ 0.956122.510 mph
4 Steve PlaterYamaha YZF-R+ 1.192121.658 mph
5 Gary JohnsonHonda+ 10.257120.979 mph
6 Bruce AnsteySuzuki GSX-R1000+ 17.682120.979 mph
7 Ian HutchinsonYamaha+ 17.970120.953 mph
8 Ryan FarquharKawasaki ZX-10R+ 18.386120.915 mph
9 Denver RobbSuzuki+ 27.118120.127 mph
10 Keith AmorHonda+ 41.841118.820 mph

Fastest Lap: Michael Rutter, 4'20.729 on lap 5

Race 3; Supersport Race final standings

Saturday 17 May 2008 5 laps – 44.690 miles
RankRiderTeamTimeGap
1 Steve PlaterYamaha YZF-R622'46.632
2 Alastair SeeleyYamaha22'49.619+ 2.987
3 Ian LougherYamaha22'50.366+ 3.734
4 Ian HutchinsonYamaha22'50.813+ 4.181
5 Ryan FarquharKawasaki22'51.092+ 4.460
6 Keith AmorHonda22'51.288+ 4.656
7 Guy MartinHonda22'51.866+ 5.234
8 Gary JohnsonHonda22'52.396+ 5.764
9 John McGuinnessHonda22'54.799+ 8.167
10 Conor CumminsYamaha22'55.173+ 8.541

Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Steve Plater, 4'30.792 on lap 5

Race 4; 125cc Race final standings

Saturday 17 May 2008 4 laps – 35.724 miles
RankRiderTeamTimeGap
1 Michael WilcoxHonda21'10.496
2 Chris PalmerHonda21'10.673+ 0.177
3 James FordHonda21'20.006+ 9.510
4 Mark LunneyHonda21'23.032+ 12.536
5 Mark CurtinHonda21'23.596+ 13.100
6 Graham WilsonHonda21'24.652+ 14.156
7 Stephan SavelkoulsHonda21'47.464+ 36.968
8 David FergusonHonda21'50.154+ 39.658
9 Tim StottHonda21'50.437+ 39.941
10 Nigel MooreHonda21'50.668+ 40.172

Fastest Lap: Chris Palmer, 5'16.672 on lap 4

Race 5; 400cc Race final standings

Saturday 17 May 2008 4 laps – 35.724 miles
RankRiderTeamTimeGap
1 Oliver LinsdellYamaha20'38.949
2 Paul DobbsYamaha21'03.441+ 24.492
3 Les ShandKawasaki21'04.150+ 25.201
4 Joe PhillipsKawasaki21'04.319+ 25.370
5 John BartonKawasaki21'05.398+ 26.449
6 Alan BrownSuzuki21'10.235+ 31.286
7 David Madsen-MygdalHonda21'13.993+ 35.044
8 Michael SweeneyHonda21'17.834+ 38.885
9 Coyles WrightSuzuki21'29.098+ 50.149
10 Ian WhitlowSuzuki21'55.007+ 1'16.058

Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Oliver Linsdell, 5'06.838 on lap 3

Race 6; 1000cc Superstock Race final standings

Saturday 17 May 2008 5 laps – 44.690 miles
RankRiderTeamTimeGap
1 Alastair SeeleyYamaha22'08.828
2 Bruce AnsteySuzuki22'09.363+ 0.535
3 Cameron DonaldSuzuki22'09.583+ 0.755
4 Guy MartinHonda22'10.136+ 1.308
5 Keith AmorHonda22'10.269+ 1.441
6 Ryan FarquharKawasaki22'11.671+ 2.843
7 Gary JohnsonHonda22'16.745+ 7.917
8 Conor CumminsYamaha22'23.426+ 14.598
9 Rob FrostYamaha22'29.852+ 21.024
10 Les ShandYamaha22'30.633+ 21.805

Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Guy Martin, 4'24.682 on lap 3

Race 7; North West 200 Superbike Race

Saturday 17 May 2008 6 laps – 53.656 miles
RankRiderTeamTimeGap
1 Steve PlaterYamaha26'17.157
2 Cameron DonaldSuzuki26'17.744+ 0.587
3 Michael RutterDucati26'18.495+ 1.338
4 Bruce AnsteySuzuki26'18.692+ 1.535
5 John McGuinnessHonda26'18.915+ 1.758
6 Gary JohnsonHonda26'20.874+ 3.717
7 Keith AmorHonda26'30.113+ 12.956
8 Ian HutchinsonYamaha26'31.163+ 14.006
9 Ryan FarquharKawasaki26'50.132+ 32.975
10 Denver RobbSuzuki26'51.260+ 34.103

Fastest Lap: John McGuinness and Steve Plater, 4'21.686

Race 8; Supersport Race

Saturday 17 May 2008 5 laps – 44.690 miles
RankRiderTeamTimeGap
1 Steve PlaterYamaha22'41.258
2 Alastair SeeleyYamaha22'41.391+ 0.133
3 Ian LougherYamaha22'43.218+ 1.960
4 Steve BroganHonda22'46.694+ 5.436
5 Keith AmorHonda22'46.795+ 5.537
6 Gary JohnsonHonda23'02.936+ 21.678
7 Cameron DonaldSuzuki23'03.409+ 22.151
8 John McGuinnessHonda23'06.462+ 25.204
9 Les ShandSuzuki23'28.676+ 47.418
10 James McBrideYamaha23'32.998+ 51.740

Fastest Lap: Keith Amor, 4'31.745 on lap 4