Christian Elkin recalls 'surreal' race against Michael Dunlop on extraordinary day at North West 200 16 years ago

The former double British 125cc champion battled with Dunlop and John McGuinness in an emotion-charged 250cc race at the event in 2008, less than 48 hours after 19-year-old Dunlop’s father Robert was killed following a crash in qualifying.

McGuinness dropped back slightly as the race unfolded, leaving Dunlop and Elkin to fight it out to the finish.

After swapping places throughout, Dunlop prevailed on a breathless final lap to clinch his maiden NW200 victory in the ultimate tribute to his late father, who at the time was the most successful rider ever around the 8.9-mile ‘Triangle’ course with 15 wins.

Elkin, from Macclesfield but now living in Randalstown, was among the guests at the ‘Meet the Stars’ launch of the North West 200 in Coleraine on Wednesday evening.

Speaking at the event, he reflected on his memories of that extraordinary day on the north coast almost 16 years ago when a teenage Dunlop achieved the unthinkable.

“It was a bit surreal really,” said Elkin, who had triumphed in the 250cc race the previous year in 2007.

“To do what Michael did after that happened, his father dying at that track – I’d have found it very difficult myself to race.

“But to be honest it was an amazing race, amazing for the fans to watch and amazing to be a part of.

“It was very emotional for everybody and I think it was one of the most spectacular races ever seen at the North West 200, just because of the emotion really.

“All three of us were really trying and one point I was going to University and I didn’t leave any room on the right-hand side, and Michael came between me and the white line on the grass,” he added.

“On another lap he nearly pinged me into Metropole but the emotions were so high that it was win at any cost basically and I sort of knew that, but I wanted to win as well so it made a really good race.”

Elkin and Dunlop went head-to-head again in another thrilling 250cc race in 2009, but this time a mistake by the English rider on the final lap wiped them both out, leaving Michael’s older brother William to pick up the pieces as he clinched his first NW200 success.

William had intended to race in his father’s memory in the 2008 race but he was denied the chance when his 250cc Honda developed a problem on the warm-up lap, ruling him out.

Elkin said: “We had a really good race [in 2009]. I think we qualified quite well actually – but in the race the bike just wasn’t pulling top gear properly, whether it was the wind or the gearing.

“I really wanted to win because he’d beaten me the year before, so I thought I was going to win no matter what.

“I passed him into the Juniper chicane on the last lap and thought I’d got it, but I went a little bit too fast into the second part of the chicane and tucked the front.

“I was about a foot too wide and unfortunately Michael had nowhere to go and he ran me over, breaking my leg and I ruptured my liver and broke my ribs, and I smashed my shoulder blade to bits on the kerb, which is the bad part of road racing.”

Elkin is one of only a handful of riders who have won on their debut at the North West 200 after his victory in 2007.

A stalwart of the event, he will ride in the Supertwin and Supersport classes this year on the RB Engineering Kawasaki and Dynocentre NI Yamaha R6 respectively from May 8-11.