Retro Rewind: Treble for Bruce Anstey at 2007 North West 200, Superbike glory for John McGuinness and Steve Plater

However, the coronavirus pandemic has all but wiped out the 2020 Irish motorcycling calendar and this week’s necessary but unsurprising announcement that the NW200 had been cancelled is another blow for the sport.

With little on the two-wheel horizon to look forward to, we take a look back at the 2007 North West 200 as part of our popular Retro Rewind series.

New Zealand’s Bruce Anstey was on top form with a treble in the Supersport and Superstock classes, whilst the Superbike victories were shared between John McGuinness and Steve Plater.

On a dry and sunny day on the north coast, Morecambe man McGuinness – riding the HM Plant Honda – managed to narrowly hold off Anstey (Relentless TAS Suzuki) to win the Superbike opener by just under half-a-second, while Plater took third on the AIM Yamaha ahead of Guy Martin (Hydrex Honda).

It was Plater, though who prevailed to win the feature NW200 Superbike race on his 1000cc R1 Yamaha as the Woodhall-Spa rider fended off a determined challenge from Martin to win by 0.9 seconds. Michael Rutter (MSS Kawasaki) only just pipped McGuinness to third spot while Ian Lougher (Stobart Honda) and Keith Amor (Robinson Concrete Honda) completed the top six.

‘Flying Kiwi’ Anstey stole the lion’s share of the headlines as he raced to a hat-trick, winning both Supersport races and the Superstock event.

Anstey and Plater battled it out in the first Supersport race, with the TAS Suzuki rider getting the verdict by just 0.2s at the finish. Martin was a long way back as he finalised the first three.

In the second 600 race, Anstey completed a double as he took victory by 1.2s from McGuinness (Padgett’s Honda), with Rutter third and Plater fourth on this occasion.

Anstey had a more comfortable win in the Superstock race as he came home over three seconds ahead of Carrick man Alastair Seeley (NCT/Vanfit Yamaha), who produced an eye-catching ride that marked him out as a future winner around the Triangle circuit. Martin was over 18 seconds behind in third position.

Christian Elkin and Michael Wilcox were the respective winners of the 250 and 125 races, with Olie Linsdell victorious in the 400cc class.

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