NW200: Michael Rutter on cusp of milestone 100th race start on 33rd anniversary of debut at north coast road race

The popular English rider is the third most successful competitor in history around the 8.9-mile ‘Triangle’ course with 14 victories.

Only Ulsterman Alastair Seeley with 29 and road racing legend Robert Dunlop (15) have achieved more success at the north coast showpiece, where opening practice takes place on Wednesday (roads closed from 9am to 3pm).

Rutter’s famous racing father Tony won nine times at the North West between 1973 and 1982 he has carried on the proud family tradition with aplomb.

Rutter will compete in all three Superbikes races on a Bathams AJN BMW and a Yamaha R7 in the Supertwin class.

The 53-year-old is running a team in the British Superbike Championship for the first time after signing exciting prospect Storm Stacey, leaving Rutter with less time to focus on his own racing plans.

He will only compete in the Supertwin races at the TT this year, opting instead to focus more on helping his team’s other rider, Craig Neve, who is also in action this week at the North West.

“It’s 33 years this year coming to the North West and I’m coming back with a Superbike and an R7 Yamaha Supertwin, so I’ll concentrate on those two classes,” Rutter said.

“Obviously with the Bathams AJN team we’ve got Craig Neve who’s in every class virtually, so we’ve got a full-on North West assault.

“If I didn’t still enjoy it or have a passion for it then I wouldn’t be here.

“My first year was 1992 and I’ve done 97 starts, so we should have 100 starts this year,” added Rutter, who is due to compete in five races in total.

“I’m only riding a Superbike at the North West, I’m not going to ride one at the TT.

“I want to go down the straight at 210mph if I can and I’ve still got that buzz to go and do that that.

“I think I’ve got to be realistic where I finish. We’ve had some good results, 14 wins and 34 podiums, and it’d be great to get another one, but if we could get somewhere inside that top six in some of the races, that would be my aim.”

Rutter has been racing at the North West for over three decades but he is reluctant to put a timeframe on any potential retirement plans.

“I don’t know yet, I just take it meeting by meeting and that’s what I’ve done for the last few years,” he said.

“A lot of people have said the same question and asked how long will I carry on. I might wake up tomorrow morning and not want to do it, I don’t know, so I just approach it like that.

“I don’t want to say I’ll do one more year and that’s it, I’ll do it meeting by meeting and see what happens.”