2002-present

2004

The 2004 North West 200 went a long way towards re-establishing the event as one of the premier dates on the road racing calendar. The meeting brimmed over with drama, racing of the very highest standard, and all before a sun drenched capacity crowd of well over 100,000. It was a day when history was made, as Ian Lougher achieved the distinction of becoming the first man to achieve five consecutive victories, John McGuinness and Bruce Anstey stormed to a brace of wins apiece, and Michael Rutter finally eclipsed his father’s long standing total of nine race wins. Rutter bagged both Superbike race wins to make it nineteen North West 200 wins for the racing family, and along the way became the first rider to be clocked at over 200 mph on any British circuit.

Poor weather and a series of accidents had disrupted practice leaving many of the fancied runners running out of time and guessing at race set up when the flag fell for the start of the opening Superbike race. There was drama right from the off as Alex Donaldson lost control of his Suzuki and crashed out as he left the line. Donaldson was lucky not to be hit by the following pack but walked away unscathed.

Luck didn’t come into it for Rutter who stretched the legs on the H M Plant Honda Fireblade to lead from flag to flag. On his way to building a six second lead over runner up John McGuinness, Rutter was timed through the speed trap on the run towards University Corner at 199.20mph, but seemed unfazed by the statistics and more concerned with how much top end speed could be coaxed from the Honda factory missile.

After Bruce Anstey (blown head gasket) and Ian Lougher retired on the first lap of the action, the task of chasing down Rutter and McGuinness fell to Ryan Farquhar in the opening stages. Farquhar defied the pain barrier as he struggled to overcome a broken wrist injured in a pre season training accident, but slipped out of the top three on the last lap.

Whilst the top two positions remained unchanged for the entire distance, Adrian Archibald caused the sensation of the race with a storming ride from last place on the grid to edge Farquhar out in the closing miles. Archibald had been plagued with mechanical problems throughout practice, had failed to qualify for the Superbike race, and was allowed to start the race, dead last, at the official’s discretion. A disconsolate Archibald had come close to not starting at all, but at the end of the five lapper, the smiles on the faces of his TAS Suzuki team testified to the Ballymoney man’s grit and determination.

The Junior 600cc race was stopped on the opening lap after James McCullough and Darren Burns came down on the approach to University. When they lined up for the restart Richard Britton could only watch after electrical failure eliminated him from the action. Right from the start the pace was fast and furious, with McGuinness leading Lindsay and Anstey off the line, and Lindsay in front at Mathers Cross, but dropping out of contention as the race progressed to finish a distant fifth at the end.

With Michael Rutter, guesting on Carl Harris’ 600cc Honda, a first lap retirement, the job of flying the Honda colours fell to Ian Lougher. The Welsh wizard hoisted the lap record to 115.60 mph to split the Yamahas of McGuinness and Ramsey, and the Kawasaki and Suzuki challenge in the hands of Farquhar and Anstey, and then suffered the cruel luck of machine failure after fighting his way into the thick of the action.

From the mid way point Callum Ramsey seemed to have the measure of what was need to take the win, and when Anstey was flicked out of the seat and almost over the screen at York, Ramsey appeared to be in an invincible position. He led the train of Anstey, Farquhar and McGuinness on the final charge across the Coast Road, but with the chequered flag in sight, Ramsey’s Yamaha, running on the dregs in the tank, slowed and spluttered and in a trice, Anstey and Farquhar swept around the unlucky Scot to push him back to third place.

John McGuinness’ first success of the day came after an emphatic start to finish ride in the 400cc race. Along the way the Morecambe star notched up a new lap record of 103.06 mph, to win with ease from last year’s 400cc winner Dave Madsen Mygdal, with Andy Wallace in third.

The 125cc race, ran concurrently with the 400cc machines, provided Ian Lougher with an historic fifth straight win in the tiddler class, and brought the curtain down on Robert Dunlop’s illustrious North West 200 career. Behind Lougher the dispute for the minor placings provided a slip streaming master class as Paul Robinson, Michael Wilcox, Davy Lemon and Mark Lunney fought it out to the flag.

Dunlop, the sentimental choice for the race win, had struggled all through practice, and when the engine seized on his little Honda on the warm up lap, was forced to sit it out and watch his son William ride to a steady eighth place finish. It was far from the dream ending Dunlop would have chosen in what he had proclaimed at the start of the year as his last season in the saddle.

Lougher had no illusions that it would be easy as Darren Lindsay and Michael Wilcox swarmed all over him in the opening miles. Before lap one was completed Lougher had the race in the bag after Lindsay retired with a radiator leak and Wilcox gave himself too much to do after overshooting at Magherabuoy chicane. Lougher cruised to the win, waving to fans around the course as he savoured his triumphant last lap. Behind him Robinson followed Adrian Archibald’s earlier example to overcome starting from a lowly sixth row place on the grid, to just about hold Wilcox at bay, with Lemon and Mark Lunney snapping at their heels as the eight wheel train flashed across the line.

Lougher’s celebrations were kept to the minimum as he swapped the 125cc Honda for the all together more powerful Black Horse Finance Honda and lined up beside Ryan Rainey and Rob Frost on the front row of the Production race grid.

The race ran at an unrelenting pace from the off, with newcomer Les Shand hanging onto a leading trio of Lougher, Frost and Anstey as they headed out of Portstewart for the first time. Shand overshot at Juniper chicane on lap two, made up the ground he had lost, and seemed poised to challenge for a podium finish before repeating his mistake on the last lap. Ahead of the Scottish newcomer the lead chopped and changed with Anstey and then Lougher out in front. Frost was never far away for most of the distance, but was dropping back into the clutches of Shand, as the race moved towards a tense finale with the thrilling head to head between Lougher and Anstey still too close to call. Lougher held the upper hand as they headed through Church Corner and onto the Coast Road, but in an audacious move Anstey took the tight line to sweep through and onto victory as the pair crested Blackhill.

The quietly spoken Kiwi came oh so close to completing his hat trick in 600cc race two. But while leading from John McGuinness on the final lap he gassed the TAS Suzuki a split second too early exiting Church Corner, and in an instant Anstey was flicked high out of the saddle and over the front.

Anstey had worked hard throughout the five lap thriller, and up to the point of his early exit had done everything right. The race had begun in the usual hectic manner with Ramsey leading Michael Rutter off the grid. The lead changed at almost every corner on the opening lap; McGuinness ahead at York, Ramsey at Ballysally Roundabout with Anstey right behind him, and Lindsay moving from fourth to first by Mathers.

It really seemed that Lindsay’s run of rotten North West 200 might have changed as he got his head down and began to build a gap back to the squabbling pack behind him. Lindsay’s change of fortune lasted as far as Juniper chicane on lap one, where he clipped the grass verge in the way in and was sent tumbling. As Lindsay dusted himself down McGuinness moved to the front for the first time, and was still there with Farquhar, Anstey and Ramsey chasing hard as they crossed the line.

With Rutter, Britton and Archibald all listed as first lap retirements, the four man group of McGuinness, Anstey, Ramsey and Farquhar were the only men who mattered from the early miles. As they set out on the final lap Ramsey and Farquhar had dropped off the pace set by the pair ahead on the road, with Anstey once again playing a starring role in a last lap, head to head decider for a race win. With McGuinness breathing down his neck Anstey led on the final desperate charge past the packed railway embankment at Metropole, and then it all went horribly wrong. The New Zealander paid dearly for his uncharacteristic mistake, and as he crashed out at Church Corner, McGuinness was left unchallenged to take the win with Ramsey and Farquhar.

Michael Rutter kept the best for last, turning on the style in an epic Superbike performance that saw him clocked at a staggering 200.10 mph on the penultimate lap of the days’ final race. The race win was never in doubt for Rutter who shook off Ian Lougher’s lone challenge in the early stages to stroll home with over eighteen seconds to spare. Lougher claimed the runner up spot, but only after John McGuinness’ efforts to deny Lougher ended abruptly when he slid out at Juniper chicane only yards from home. It was a sour end to an otherwise glorious day for McGuinness, who had much more to celebrate in the weeks ahead after scoring a historic treble at the Isle of Man TT.

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