Peter Hickman brought his Triumph home in second in race one at Ireland’s largest outdoor sporting event. Michael Dunlop, who recently switched to Triumph, scored two third place finishes.
The following is a race recap from Triumph Motorcycles…
The North West 200, an 8.9 mile road race held in Northern Ireland, ran this week, serving as the traditional warm-up to the upcoming Isle of Man TT, and Triumph machines delivered strong performances with three podiums from two races.
25 time TT winner, Michael Dunlop, was nursing an injury but still managed to qualify in fourth on his MD Racing 765cc Triumph. 13 time TT winner, Peter Hickman, who was also injured, qualified in seventh on his Trooper Triumph by PHR. The next best Triumph Street Triple to line up on the grid was Michael Evans who started 11th.
In race one it was a great start for the Triumph riders however there was a crash at York Corner taking two riders, Davey Todd and Adam McLean, out of contention. The riders behind avoided the incident which left Richard Cooper in the lead ahead of three Triumphs of Dunlop, Hickman and Evans.
The leading trio started to pull away while Evans was involved in an exciting six rider battle for fourth. Mike Browne who’d been caught up in the first-turn incident powered through and Evans lost out two more places ultimately crossing the line in 7th on his Smith Racing Triumph.
Back at the front, Cooper took the win with Hickman second and Dunlop third making it two Triumph’s on the podium.
Peter Hickman #666: “At the start of race one Coopes got away and Michael came through and I felt I just wasn’t riding well. It’s not the bike, it was all down to me. About half way through I had a word with myself, sorted myself out and managed to close the gap on Michael. I didn’t want to show him a wheel too early so my plan was always Metropole but he’s really strong through the chicane and all race he pulled a bit out on me there which would have made it difficult for metropole but on the last lap I managed to just get it right and we ended up on the podium.”
Michael Dunlop #6: “I knew Pete was coming, I could hear him in the background and I was expecting the move. He went tight into the chicane and he went late as well. The bikes are quite equal so I couldn’t pull anything out the bag so there wasn’t much I could do. We’re trying to progress and make a step for the next race.”
In race two, Davey Todd was out to make up for the disappointment of race one, getting a great start ahead of Browne, Cooper and Dunlop and his Triumph in fourth. It would be a race long battle between this leading quartet for the full six laps. Dunlop and Browne were battling hard for third. Dunlop finally made the move stick with two laps to go. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race, a 4m 34.337, on the last lap, he couldn’t catch Cooper in second and Todd in third but still took his second podium out of two races on a bike he’s only just switched to.
Michael Dunlop #6: “We tried to ride as hard as we could and I felt we deserved more from the race really but that’s just the way it goes. I just kept chipping away and doing the best I could. I was doing passes in places you probably shouldn’t be passing and making it work. I tried my best, I put it all on the line to do the best I could, I was riding hard. I felt good and I felt we got the maximum out of the chassis.”
The Isle of Man TT is next up with qualifying week from May 27 and race week of June 1-8.
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