With a line-up that includes six riders who have notched up 40 race wins between them on the 8.9 mile Triangle course, the Vauxhall North West 200 can boast the finest entry list of any road race in the world in 2013.

2012 treble winner Alastair Seeley will lead the big bike charge with the Number One plate on his MSS Kawasaki in the feature Superbike race which will have a new look this year.

Vauxhall Cars will add the sponsorship of the feature race to their portfolio that already includes the overall title sponsorship of the event and support for the Thursday Supertwins race.

‘We dipped our toe in the North West 200 waters in 2012 and we liked what we found here so we want to be even more involved in 2013.’ Vauxhall’s Regional Operations Manager, Gordon Hannen explained as the sponsorship announcement was made in Portstewart last night.

There will also be a new North West 200 trophy specially commissioned for the race winner. The pole setter in the Superbike class will collect a special Festina watch supplied by local jeweller, Cunningham’s of Portstewart and Premier Print / Tipperary Crystal have also been commissioned to produce a new set of trophies for each race which will be presented alongside the Belleek awards.

As he doesn’t start in the Supertwins race, ‘Wee Wizard’ Seeley only has four races on May 18, which means he won’t be able to have another crack at equalling Phillip McCallen’s record of five wins in a single day at Portrush. Having split from Tyco Suzuki during the winter, the current leader of the British Supersport championship will want to win every race he begins in the only between the hedges meeting he competes at. But he definitely won’t have things all his own way.

The man who led the Carrickfergus rider home in the opening 2012 Superbike race, John McGuinness, will lead the cross channel invasion. John’s Honda TT Legends teammates Michael Rutter and Michael Dunlop will be hungry for success on the superfast North West course as young Dunlop tries to prevent 13 times winner Rutter closing in any further on his father Robert’s all-time record of 15 wins.


Michael’s brother William will have his first road race outing on the Milwaukee Yamahas. The Ballymoney man will have a superfast German-built R6 machine for the Supersport races in which he took a win and a second place to Seeley in 2012.

‘The 600cc race will be my top priority for 2013.’ William says.’ ‘Although it is not out of the question that I can win on the big bike I really want to win both the 600cc races this year. I got one of them last year and I want to go one better in 2013.’

William’s Milwaukee teammate, Manxman Conor Cummins, will be aiming to improve on his tally of a solitary North West 200 podium and his best chance should come in the premier class.

The top ten on the entry list is highly impressive with an immense depth of talent on display. Flying Kiwi Bruce Anstey will be on the Padgett’s Hondas trying to maintain his remarkable podium record at the Port. Bruce’s 2012 teammate Gary Johnson will race a Lincs Lifting Honda in the Superbike class as well as the new MV Agusta 675cc F3 machine for Jack Valentine’s Valmoto squad in the Supersport events.

Guy Martin will spearhead the Tyco Suzuki challenge, hoping to break his North West duck. The most popular rider on the grid will probably have to play second fiddle to his Australian cohort, Josh Brookes, with the fans and media. The runner-up in the 2012 BSB championship, who will ride with the Number 2 plate, has said that he ‘absolutely believes that he can win’ at the North West. As the highest profile newcomer to the event for decades he will command plenty of attention.

Double British Supersport championship race winner at Thruxton last weekend, Mar-Train’s Stuart Easton, will return to Portrush for the first time since his practice smash in 2011. Cameron Donald will make the long journey from his home in Australia for his first road racing outing of the season on the Wilson Craig Hondas and 2012’s 208mph man Martin Jessopp has swapped from Ducati to BMW in the Riders squad this year.

Top local riders Stephen Thompson (Cookstown BE Suzuki), Lee Johnston (Millsport Ducati) and Jamie Hamilton (Vauxhall KMR Kawasaki) will be trying to hold off the challenge of fast and experienced visitors like Simon Andrews (RAF Reserves Honda), James Hillier (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) and Steve Mercer. Austrians Horst Saiger and Toni Rachberger, Italy’s Amauri Cevasco and Dario Cecconi and Dutchman Branko Srdanov will add some continental interest to what is a massively talented field.

‘We are delighted to have Vauxhall as the new sponsor for our main feature race and with an entry list of this quality we hope that every road race fan will be very excited by the prospect of the racing at this year’s North West 200.’ Event Director Mervyn Whyte, MBE, enthused as he announced the final entry list. ‘We have tried to bring the best road racers in the world to Portrush this year and we know that they will produce some fantastic racing.’

.