British Supersport Championship contender Stuart Easton admits the Superbike races at the North West 200 will be ‘something of an unknown’.

The Hawick rider is among the favourites for the 600cc Supersport races on Thursday, May 16 and Saturday, May 18 on the 8.9-mile public roads circuit, but Easton is unsure of his prospects in the blue riband class as he prepares to race the 1000cc YZF-R1 Yamaha for the first time.

“With regards to the R1, we’ve only tested it once to sort out some fuelling issues and to get myself comfortable on the bike,” Easton said.

“I’ll be getting another run on it this week and while it’s a bit of an unknown, we do know how capable the R1 has been in the British Superbike Championship and we know that it’s fast – so yes I’m looking forward to riding it at the North West.”


Mar-Train Racing team principal, Tim Martin, said he was thrilled to have a rider of Easton’s class representing his team at the international roads meeting.

“Anyone that’s involved in bike racing locally has to be a fan of the North West and I’m no different.

“It’s a great event that I’ve always enjoyed and now that we have someone with Stuart’s pedigree on our bikes, I have to be honest and say the whole team is pretty excited about the week ahead,” he said.

“Adding the R1 for the Superbike class gives us four races at the meeting, and whilst the British Supersport Championship remains our number one goal this season – we will enjoy the week on the North Coast.

“If podium champagne is offered up, we’ll be happy to spray it, that’s for sure!”



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