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

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John McGuinness 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

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Race 1; 250cc Race final standings

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Saturday 17 May 2008 4 laps – 35.724 miles

Rank Rider Team Time Speed
1   Michael Dunlop Honda 250cc 19' 34.316 109.516 mph
2   Christian Elkin Honda 250cc + 1.029 109.420 mph
3   John McGuinness Honda 250cc + 1.763 109.352 mph
4   Paul Robinson Honda 250cc + 22.725 107.437 mph
5   Andrew Neill Honda 250cc + 24.543 107.274 mph
6   Davy Morgan Honda 250cc + 24.614 107.268 mph
7   Denver Robb Honda 250cc + 39.308 105.969 mph
8   Mark Lunney Honda 250cc + 42.014 105.733 mph
9   Emlyn Hughes Honda 250cc + 42.504 105.961 mph
10   Neil Richardson Yamaha 250cc + 44.434 105.531 mph

Fastest Lap: Michael Dunlop, 4'51.975 on lap 4 (110.549 mph; 177.911 km/h)

Race 2; 1000cc Superbike Race final standings

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Saturday 17 May 2008 *5 laps – 44.690 miles

Rank Rider Team Time Speed
1   Michael Rutter Ducati 21' 52.169 122.609 mph
2   Guy Martin Honda + 0.810 122.534 mph
3   John McGuinness Honda + 0.956 122.510 mph
4   Steve Plater Yamaha YZF-R + 1.192 121.658 mph
5   Gary Johnson Honda + 10.257 120.979 mph
6   Bruce Anstey Suzuki GSX-R1000 + 17.682 120.979 mph
7   Ian Hutchinson Yamaha + 17.970 120.953 mph
8   Ryan Farquhar Kawasaki ZX-10R + 18.386 120.915 mph
9   Denver Robb Suzuki + 27.118 120.127 mph
10   Keith Amor Honda + 41.841 118.820 mph

Fastest Lap: Michael Rutter, 4'20.729 on lap 5 (123.798 mph; 199.234 km/h)

Race 3; Supersport Race final standings

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Saturday 17 May 2008 5 laps – 44.690 miles

Rank Rider Team Time Gap
1   Steve Plater Yamaha YZF-R6 22'46.632
2   Alastair Seeley Yamaha 22'49.619 + 2.987
3   Ian Lougher Yamaha 22'50.366 + 3.734
4   Ian Hutchinson Yamaha 22'50.813 + 4.181
5   Ryan Farquhar Kawasaki 22'51.092 + 4.460
6   Keith Amor Honda 22'51.288 + 4.656
7   Guy Martin Honda 22'51.866 + 5.234
8   Gary Johnson Honda 22'52.396 + 5.764
9   John McGuinness Honda 22'54.799 + 8.167
10   Conor Cummins Yamaha 22'55.173 + 8.541

Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Steve Plater, 4'30.792 on lap 5 (119.197 mph; 191.829 km/h)

Race 4; 125cc Race final standings

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Saturday 17 May 2008 4 laps – 35.724 miles

Rank Rider Team Time Gap
1   Michael Wilcox Honda 21'10.496
2   Chris Palmer Honda 21'10.673 + 0.177
3   James Ford Honda 21'20.006 + 9.510
4   Mark Lunney Honda 21'23.032 + 12.536
5   Mark Curtin Honda 21'23.596 + 13.100
6   Graham Wilson Honda 21'24.652 + 14.156
7   Stephan Savelkouls Honda 21'47.464 + 36.968
8   David Ferguson Honda 21'50.154 + 39.658
9   Tim Stott Honda 21'50.437 + 39.941
10   Nigel Moore Honda 21'50.668 + 40.172

Fastest Lap: Chris Palmer, 5'16.672 on lap 4 (101.928 mph; 164.037 km/h)

Race 5; 400cc Race final standings

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Saturday 17 May 2008 4 laps – 35.724 miles

Rank Rider Team Time Gap
1   Oliver Linsdell Yamaha 20'38.949
2   Paul Dobbs Yamaha 21'03.441 + 24.492
3   Les Shand Kawasaki 21'04.150 + 25.201
4   Joe Phillips Kawasaki 21'04.319 + 25.370
5   John Barton Kawasaki 21'05.398 + 26.449
6   Alan Brown Suzuki 21'10.235 + 31.286
7   David Madsen-Mygdal Honda 21'13.993 + 35.044
8   Michael Sweeney Honda 21'17.834 + 38.885
9   Coyles Wright Suzuki 21'29.098 + 50.149
10   Ian Whitlow Suzuki 21'55.007 + 1'16.058

Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Oliver Linsdell, 5'06.838 on lap 3 (105.194 mph; 169.293 km/h)

Race 6; 1000cc Superstock Race final standings

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Saturday 17 May 2008 5 laps – 44.690 miles

Rank Rider Team Time Gap
1   Alastair Seeley Yamaha 22'08.828
2   Bruce Anstey Suzuki 22'09.363 + 0.535
3   Cameron Donald Suzuki 22'09.583 + 0.755
4   Guy Martin Honda 22'10.136 + 1.308
5   Keith Amor Honda 22'10.269 + 1.441
6   Ryan Farquhar Kawasaki 22'11.671 + 2.843
7   Gary Johnson Honda 22'16.745 + 7.917
8   Conor Cummins Yamaha 22'23.426 + 14.598
9   Rob Frost Yamaha 22'29.852 + 21.024
10   Les Shand Yamaha 22'30.633 + 21.805

Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Guy Martin, 4'24.682 on lap 3 (121.949 mph; 196.258 km/h)

Race 7; North West 200 Superbike Race

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Saturday 17 May 2008 6 laps – 53.656 miles

Rank Rider Team Time Gap
1   Steve Plater Yamaha 26'17.157
2   Cameron Donald Suzuki 26'17.744 + 0.587
3   Michael Rutter Ducati 26'18.495 + 1.338
4   Bruce Anstey Suzuki 26'18.692 + 1.535
5   John McGuinness Honda 26'18.915 + 1.758
6   Gary Johnson Honda 26'20.874 + 3.717
7   Keith Amor Honda 26'30.113 + 12.956
8   Ian Hutchinson Yamaha 26'31.163 + 14.006
9   Ryan Farquhar Kawasaki 26'50.132 + 32.975
10   Denver Robb Suzuki 26'51.260 + 34.103

Fastest Lap: John McGuinness (lap 5) and Steve Plater (lap 6), 4'21.686 (123.345 mph; 198.505 km/h)

Race 8; Supersport Race

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Saturday 17 May 2008 5 laps – 44.690 miles

Rank Rider Team Time Gap
1   Steve Plater Yamaha 22'41.258
2   Alastair Seeley Yamaha 22'41.391 + 0.133
3   Ian Lougher Yamaha 22'43.218 + 1.960
4   Steve Brogan Honda 22'46.694 + 5.436
5   Keith Amor Honda 22'46.795 + 5.537
6   Gary Johnson Honda 23'02.936 + 21.678
7   Cameron Donald Suzuki 23'03.409 + 22.151
8   John McGuinness Honda 23'06.462 + 25.204
9   Les Shand Suzuki 23'28.676 + 47.418
10   James McBride Yamaha 23'32.998 + 51.740

Fastest Lap: Keith Amor, 4'31.745 on lap 4 (118.779 mph; 191.156 km/h)

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