NW200: Superbike double for Honda's Glenn Irwin in depleted headline race after Dunlop tyre concerns

A number of leading contenders were forced out of the race after a safety issue was discovered with a batch of Dunlop tyres, including Davey Todd, Peter Hickman, Michael Dunlop, Dean Harrison and Michael Rutter among others.

The dramatic development took the shine off the final race of the day, which Irwin dominated from start to finish on his Honda Racing Fireblade.

Richard Cooper tried to make a race of it on the opening laps on the Hawk Racing Suzuki, and was only 0.9s back after the first two laps.

However, Irwin upped the ante and gradually eased away, increasing his lead to almost four seconds at the end of lap four, with Josh Brookes on the MCE Ducati 24s further behind on his own in third.

Once Irwin had forged a comfortable lead he enjoyed a straightforward run to the finish in the seven-lap finale, sewing up a record sixth Superbike win in succession around the 8.9-mile course by 2.4s from Cooper after slackening off the throttle on his final lap.

Brookes took third, a further 26.4s down, while Ian Hutchinson came through on the Milwaukee BMW for fourth after running on at University on the first lap.

John McGuinness was fifth for Honda and James Hillier completed the top six on the OMG Yamaha ahead of Michael Rutter (Bathams BMW) and Phil Crowe (BMW).