Record-equalling Glenn Irwin savours ninth straight North West 200 Superbike win after duel with Davey Todd

The Northern Ireland rider had set the pace in qualifying but Todd pushed him all the way in a battle that went right down to the wire.

A slight misjudgement by Todd on the Milwaukee BMW as he weighed up a pass on Irwin at Juniper chicane on the fourth and last lap cost him any chance of victory.

That left Irwin clear on the run to the line as he began his quest for a treble in style on the Hager PBM Ducati, with Irwin also setting a new 125mph outright lap record.

Michael Dunlop earned a place on the podium on the Hawk Racing Honda, 14 seconds behind the winner, as he held off Peter Hickman (PHR Performance BMW).

It was a sensational start to racing on the north coast in the new Thursday evening Superbike race as Irwin completed the first part of his triple crown bid.

“It was a really fun race,” said Irwin. “Honestly, I’ve been lucky to be at the front a number of times here and in practice we have been riding so, so hard.

“It sounds weird, but it wasn’t fun riding behind Davey. He was riding so well but he was on the limit in some scary places and I was rolling the throttle a bit behind him. To win we had to go to his level.”

Irwin described his feat of joining Joey Dunlop and Rutter as the most successful Superbike riders ever as an ‘amazing’ achievement.

“Those guys done it over their whole career and to go nine wins in a row… that (battle with Todd) was a reminder of how tough it is here,” Irwin said.

“Some people want to ride harder than me here but we can still find a way. I don’t know how we’ve done it – great team, great family support and a mindset that I don’t think that anyone on the grid has anything near, so that makes a difference.”

Runner-up Todd was left feeling frustrated after fluffing his lines at the all-important Juniper chicane on a breathless last lap.

“I feel like I put in the work there at the start,” said Todd.

“We sort of kept a little bit in reserve in practice and I said to the boys, we’ve got more in that lap time; doing 4’16 is pretty savage.

“I thought I had it worked out. I sort of know where Glenn’s strong and where he isn’t.

“I’m just frustrated in myself. I made a silly judgement at the end. I know where I’m strong, I could have had him up the inside into Juniper and I choose to go outside. It’s one of them, you have to make your decision.”

Dunlop enjoyed his early scrap with Honda Racing’s Dean Harrison on the opening laps and admitted things got ‘hot and heavy’.

“It got hot and heavy there,” said the 35-year-old. “We were bouncing on each other a wee bit. It’s Pete (Hickman) and Dean, people that I race with all the time on the roads.

“It’s not so bad when you know them – you know who you’re working with; that’s what it’s about.

“If we could have got away we would have been in a better place but we lost the tow at the start.”

Louth man Hickman in fourth was only four tenths of a second behind Dunlop when they crossed the line.

Harrison who, like Hickman, was riding a Superstock machine, claimed fifth place ahead of the Isle of Man’s Conor Cummins on Clive Padgett’s Milenco by Padgett’s Honda.

Morecambe’s John McGuiness was a solid seventh on the Honda Racing Superstock machine in his 30th year of racing at the North West, while James Hillier took eighth position on the WTF Racing Honda.