North West 200: Ten memorable and landmark Superbike races of the past 20 years

It's the middle of May - the traditional dates for the North West 200 motorcycle road races - but sadly the event has fallen victim to the Covid-19 pandemic for a second successive year.

While bike fans may be missing their annual 'speed fix' on the north coast and the unique atmosphere which accompanies Ireland's largest outdoor sporting event, all is not lost.

With racing cancelled again in 2021, we thought this an appropriate time to reflect on some of the best Superbike races held over the Triangle circuit over the last 20 years.

We look back on some of the most iconic landmark moments from the blue riband class - and some of the most exciting finishes.

This race is best remembered as the one in which Michael Rutter recorded the first official speed in excess of 200mph on his way to completing a comfortable Superbike double.

The Midlands-based HM Plant Honda rider was clocked at 201.1mph on the 'speed trap' section of the circuit between Station Corner and University Corner on lap four.

The victory was the 10th of Rutter's 14 North West successes to date.

Two years later it was another English rider notching a double over the nine-mile circuit encompassing the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush.

After securing a number of podium finishes, Steve Plater finally took his place on the top step of the podium in Superbike race one and made it two in a day in the premier class by triumphing in race two.

In the day's first Superbike race, Plater ended ended lap one in seventh place, some six seconds in arrears, but gained ground throughout to take the chequered flag after Rutter crashed out at Juniper chicane. Bruce Anstey was just 0.37 seconds behind in runner-up spot.

Race Two later in the day saw both Rutter and Plater break the lap record several times as they diced for the lead, but Plater's eventual benchmark at over 124mph on his final circuit proved enough to take victory.

Rutter occupied the top step of the podium again in 2008 - riding the machine he rode on British short circuits which bore the name of the North West 200 to help publicise the event.

He outmanoeuvred previous leaders Guy Martin and John McGuinness on the last lap to give the Kennedy Group sponsored North West 200 Ducati team a victory at its home event.

Australian Cameron Donald was the leader for part of this race but as Michael Rutter tried to pass him, Steve Plater passed both riders to claim a hat-trick of wins.

Plater's double the following year would prove to be his last wins over the Triangle, his final career tally standing at eight.

This race was notable for ending a 13-year drought for Northern Ireland riders in the Superbike class - Alastair Seeley becoming the first homegrown rider to win a 'big bike' race since Phillip McCallen in 1997.

Riding a Relentless TAS Suzuki, the Carrickfergus rider outfoxed Stuart Easton on the Swan Honda with a hard charge into Church Corner on the final lap to secure a hard-earned victory, the Scot having hit the front shortly before at Metropole Corner.

Seeley also clinched a Supersport win in 2010 to add to the two victories he had already secured in the Superstock class at the North West.

This Superbike success has become a particularly poignant one given William Dunlop's subsequent untimely death at the Skerries road races in 2018.

The race, reduced to five laps and run in wet conditions, yielded William's sole Superbike win at an international road race following a titanic struggle with brother Michael.

Aboard a Tyco Suzuki, William enjoyed a five-second lead after three laps while his brother fought his way through from seventh to second place, before taking the lead at Metropole on the final lap on his BMW.

William dived up the inside at Juniper chicane and held off Michael's challenge to take victory by 0.545 seconds.

Despite having to settle for second behind his brother in the first Superbike outing, 2014 proved to be a memorable year for Michael Dunlop as he won the Superstock race and the second Superbike event, picking up the prestigious Robert Dunlop Man-of-the-Meeting Trophy, named in honour of his late father.

Dunlop had never ridden his Hawk Racing BMW before arriving at the North West but broke the lap record on his way to the front of the pack in the day's feature race.

Ultimately, he held off the challenge of early leader Josh Brookes and Seeley, taking victory over the Australian with three seconds to spare. Brookes had the consolation of ending up with the new lap record.

Alastair Seeley equalled Robert Dunlop's record of 15 North West 200 wins by coming home first in the only Superbike race to be staged in 2015.

Mounted on a Tyco BMW, Seeley came out on top in the five-lap race after a compelling final lap battle, with Ian Hutchinson taking second and Bruce Anstey third.

The win was Seeley's third in the Superbike class at the meeting - another would follow in 2017 to take his overall tally to four.

Michael Dunlop was in record-breaking form again in 2016 as he set a new lap benchmark for the circuit on his way to a dominant victory on the Hawk BMW.

Rutter and Hutchinson enjoyed spells at the head of affairs but Michael moved to the front on the fourth lap with a new outright lap record of 123.207mph.

The Ballymoney rider was leading by over five seconds when the red flag came out after Bruce Anstey came off at Church Corner, with the result declared on the fourth lap placings.

A fifth North West win for Dunlop, with Hutchinson and Rutter completing the rostrum positions.

The final Superbike race proved a fitting climax to the 2017 event, with Glenn Irwin, Seeley, Hutchinson, Michael Dunlop and Rutter forming a five-man leading group, before Seeley and Irwin pulled clear in the latter stages.

On the last lap Seeley drifted momentarily into the gutter on the run to University, letting Hutchinson into second, but Alastair regained second place at Magherabuoy and then took advantage of a back marker at Metropole to take the lead at Church Corner.

Irwin, on the Be Wiser PBM Ducati, responded and retook the lead on the coast road section to win by seventeen hundredths of a second - the closest result of the week after an epic showdown.

It was the British Superbike rider's first North West 200 win and the post-race celebrations said it all.

He would go on to win the next three Superbike held over the Triangle during 2018 and 2019.