Five-time North West 200 winner Peter Hickman wasn’t surprised by Storm Stacey’s sensational debut double in May, saying the British Superbike prospect “did pretty much what I expected him to do”.

Stacey won the Superstock race and clinched victory in the headline Superbike race, which was declared a result after a red flag because of oil on a section of the coast road.

It was a headline-grabbing performance by the 23-year-old, who had the benefit of experienced 14-time winner Michael Rutter in his corner.

However, Hickman – a winner in the Supertwin/Sportbike class on the Swan Racing Yamaha – believes any rider coming to race around the 8.9-mile ‘Triangle’ course from British Superbikes would be challenging at the front.

placeholder image — Storm Stacey won two races on his debut at the North West 200 this year. (Photo by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press)

“He did pretty much what I expected him to do, to be honest,” Hickman told the Outside Line podcast.

“Genuinely, you could take any of your BSB riders – I’m not even talking about front-running riders – you could take them to the North West and they’ll be at the front.

“The North West is not difficult to ride, it’s not complicated; it’s all about late braking and road racing isn’t about late braking.

“If you take a genuine TT rider and take them to the North West, generally speaking they’re not brilliant, they’re not at the front.

“It’s always short circuit riders at the front, your Glenn Irwins, Davey Todds, Alastair Seeleys – they’re all people that have come from BSB really – because it’s all about late braking,” he added.

“At the TT, you never late brake and if you did, you would gain half-a-tenth going into a corner and then lose two seconds on the next straight.”

Stacey has left Rutter’s Bathams AJN Racing Team after riding a Ducati V4R in BSB this year and will join Northern Ireland’s Glenn Irwin on BMW M1000RR machinery in 2027 in Michael Lavery’s GRYD Racing Team.

Stacey won both his races at the North West 200 on the GRYD Racing BMW this year and with record 12-time Superbike winner Irwin in the same awning, the pair represent a formidable line-up for Ulster’s premier road race in 2027.

Irwin has twice finished as the runner-up in the British Superbike Championship but endured a challenging year on the Nitrous Competitions Racing Ducati, when the 36-year-old was hampered by injury and technical problems with the Italian V4R.

He finished in a lowly 14th place as team-mate Kyle Ryde equalled Niall Mackenzie’s feat of winning the BSB crown in three successive seasons.

Ryde has been linked with a move to Honda Racing alongside Ryan Vickers next year, while Irwin will be eager to make amends after a disappointing season by his standards.