The 2014 North West 200 gets into gear as the best motorcycle road racers in the world do battle over the famous triangle course and BBC Sport NI will have comprehensive coverage.
Ireland’s largest outdoor sporting event always attracts crowds in excess of 100,000, as well as the biggest names in the sport including Michael Rutter, Guy Martin, Alastair Seeley and Michael and William Dunlop.
Taking place annually every May, the nine-mile circuit runs between the towns of Portrush, Portstewart and Coleraine, an area of outstanding natural beauty and home to the world famous Giant’s Causeway.
The North West 200 is a week long festival of road racing running this year from May 10-17 and as one of the world’s top motorcycle road races the highest calibre of riders and race teams take part.
Northern Ireland’s own Alastair Seeley and Michael Dunlop carry the weight of expectation of the nation as they search for yet more North West 200 success.
Ten-time winner and lap record holder Seeley, 34, rides Kawasaki machinery for Mar-Train Racing in the Superbike and Superstock classes, but switches to a Yamaha for the Supersport outings.
Dunlop, 25, hopes to add to his tally of two successes on the high-speed nine-mile Triangle circuit.
Fans of the Ballymoney man will hope that he has overcome the effects of an arm injury sustained in qualifying for the opening British Superbike round at Brands Hatch last month, which subsequently required surgery.
The seven-time TT winner has been undergoing intense physiotherapy in a bid to be fully competitive.
Dunlop rides in the colours of BMW in the bigger capacity classes and also campaigns a 600cc Honda and a Kawasaki supertwin.
Meanwhile, Michael’s brother William heads the Tyco TAS Suzuki challenge, along with the ever-popular Guy Martin, who is still chasing his first North West win 10 years after making his debut.
The 2014 Vauxhall International North West 200 takes place from May 10-17 and this year’s event will include three races on the Thursday evening and five on Saturday, with the two Superbikes races on the Saturday extended from six to seven laps.
BBC Sport NI will be bringing bike fans comprehensive coverage of the 2014 edition of the Vauxhall International North West 200 as it showcases all of the thrilling action from Ireland’s biggest sporting event.
On TV, BBC One NI will screen extended Friday night preview programme as well as two one-hour highlights programmes covering all the races on Sunday and Monday (May 18-19), with all three shows presented by Stephen Watson.
Race commentary will be led by Richard Nichols with contributions from special guests including former BBC MotoGP commentator Steve Parrish, with further reports and analysis from Phillip McCallen.
Both practice days and race days will be broadcast live on the BBC Sport NI website – bbc.co.uk/sportni – which will be available to all UK and international viewers.
The BBC Sport NI website will stream live coverage of Tuesday’s practice, followed by another practice session on Thursday morning,
Then it is on to the racing around the famous Triangle circuit with live action from Thursday night’s races and the full programme of races throughout Saturday, all live via the BBC Sport website.
The website will also have live text commentaries of all the events, which will include a selection of messages from viewers. Get in touch with your comments via e-mail – NW200@bbc.co.uk – by Twitter @BBC_NI_Bikes or Facebook bbcbikes.
There will also be reports and special features from behind-the-scenes on BBC Newsline and the BBC Sport NI website throughout race week.
All three BBC One NI highlights programmes will be available to watch nationwide via BBC iPlayer shortly after transmission, while BBC One NI can also be viewed nationally on Sky channel 953, Freesat 957 or Virgin 863.
BBC NI’s TV coverage will be produced by Greenlight Television and will feature up to 28 camera angles provided by trackside cameras, the aerial helicopter camera and on-board cameras.
At the press launch in March, BBC Northern Ireland announced an extension to its deal to broadcast the North West 200 across all platforms for a further five years until 2019.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE BBC SPORT NI WEBSITE
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Supertwin Race (4 laps)
Superstock Race (6 laps)
NW200 Superbike Race (7 laps) LIVE: 9.30am-7.00pm BBC Sport NI Website Sunday 18th May Bikes! North West 200 – Highlights (1/2) Highlights: 10.30pm-11.30pm BBC One NI Monday 19th May Bikes! North West 200 – Highlights (2/2) Highlights: 10.35pm-11.35pm BBC One NI
Why isn’t the northwest 200 on in England? I’ve paid for that coverage and want to watch it. Not even on iplayer. Crap service. This is not acceptable.