By blue2bikes
May 22 2005

The afternoon’s racing events had seen a mixture of wet and dry conditions throughout, with tyre choice being crucial for riders. There was more trepidation as they did the sighting lap with hailstones falling at the start for the final race of the day, the Black Horse Finance NW200 Superbike race. Was Steve Plater going to get his way and take the second race of the day, and come across the line ahead of Michael Rutter, or would Mike be the victor yet again and take his total tally to twelve North West 200 wins?

As the flag dropped it was John McGuinness who got the holeshot, in front of Mike and with Steve in third position. It was John at the roundabout holding position, with Mike following and Steve still in third. Steve overtook Mike and John was still holding first, but as they approached the start and finish straight hailstones began to fall, with Steve in front, and the race was red flagged and stopped.

Tyre choice was again to be the deciding factor as the riders returned to the pits to change tyres for wets, with the black clouds threatening once again, and the roads wet - but with the Metropole area dry a wet race was declared.

Tyre choice was again going to play it’s part, as wet tyres do not like dry surfaces, and can shred very quickly. With some parts of the track still dry, a warm up lap and a five lap race was declared. As they rode out for the second sighting lap, Mike had chosen the cut slick choice of tyre.

As they returned to the start finish line, Mike decided to go with full wet tyres, and Steve decided to stay with wet front and intermediate rear tyre, which was to prove his downfall at the re-start.

The flag dropped and it was John who took the lead, with Bruce Anstey behind, and Mike in third. Steve spun the rear as he sped from the line, losing places that he was unable to regain. As they approached the Metropole it was Anstey followed by John, with Ian Lougher in third and Mike back in sixth.

As the race progressed Steve, along with John and Mike, retired. It was then a battle between Anstey and Britton, as Britton took the challenge to Anstey throughout, tagging on to the rear of Anstey. On the fourth lap, as they crossed the start-finish line, Britton raised his hand, not realising there was one more lap to go, and lost ground. But he fought back to gain some ground when they came across back markers at the Metropole - but it was Anstey who got the best of the passing manoeuvre, and crossed the line in first position.

A very good race by Guy Martin, who is improving as he gains more experience and will certainly go onto bigger and better things as he learns the circuits - a man to watch in the future.

Top twenty finishers:
1 3 Bruce ANSTEY, TAS Suzuki, a 5 24:02.22 111.562 4:46.603
2 8 Richard BRITTON, Team DMRR Honda, a 5 24:03.17 0.949 111.489 4:43.820
3 1 Ian LOUGHER, Team DMRR Honda, a 5 24:25.43 23.206 109.796 4:49.466
4 45 Martin FINNEGAN, Vitrans Ten Kate Honda, a 5 24:40.26 38.040 108.696 4:45.444
5 14 Guy MARTIN, Robinson Concrete Suzuki, a 5 24:46.79 44.565 108.218 4:51.172
6 5 Adrian ARCHIBALD, TAS Suzuki, a 5 24:47.28 45.061 108.182 4:53.061
7 36 Ian HUTCHINSON, Mark Johns Motors Honda, a 5 25:03.15 1:00.932 107.040 4:57.886
8 4 Stephen THOMPSON, T&R Motrsport Suzuki, a 5 25:05.93 1:03.706 106.843 4:58.897
9 63 Darren , Honda, a 5 25:06.90 1:04.680 106.774 4:56.371
10 38 James McBRIDE, Regal/Incucape Suzuki, a 5 25:12.64 1:10.415 106.369 4:57.764
11 60 Mark BUCKLEY, KinPac Suzuki, b 5 25:15.94 1:13.715 106.138 5:01.724
12 82 Cameron DONALD, BTS Racing Suzuki, a 5 25:23.31 1:21.087 105.624 5:00.024
13 11 Ken DOHERTY, JD’s Yamaha, a 5 25:33.56 1:31.334 104.918 4:56.635
14 77 Les SHAND, AIM Racing Yamaha, a 5 25:35.55 1:33.328 104.782 5:03.817
15 25 Rob FROST, CD Racing Suzuki, a 5 25:35.78 1:33.560 104.766 4:58.048
16 23 Gary CARSWELL, RLR Motorsports Yamaha, b 5 25:51.29 1:49.069 103.719 5:06.077
17 54 Phil STEWART, Shirlaws Racing Suzuki, b 5 25:51.79 1:49.566 103.685 1:57.543
18 66 Jun MAEDA, Pirelli Allstar Aiming Honda, b 5 25:55.78 1:53.553 103.420 5:02.717
19 73 John WALSH, Yamaha, b 5 25:57.90 1:55.682 103.278 5:03.890
20 37 Victor GILMORE, T Lindsay Honda, b 5 26:11.91 2:09.684 102.358