Ulster’s Ryan Farquhar has long championed the benefits of the class and will start as one of the big favourites at both events, but he will first have to overcome tougher opposition to lift the prize money.

Several top names are expected to enter the SuperTwins races on the international stage this season and NW200 technical director Mervyn Whyte revealed that there is significant interest in the class with the prospect of some big names entering the race on Thursday, May 17.

“There was a certain amount of annoyance from a few people once the 125cc and 250cc races were scrapped from the North West 200 programme and we decided to look and see if there was another class we could introduce,” he said.

“At the present time there is a fair bit of interest in the SuperTwins class coming through from some of the top competitors as well.

“There could be some exciting news over the coming days or weeks and the SuperTwins race is shaping up to be a very good event.”

Last year, the official Honda Legends team missed the North West due to a date clash with a round of the World Endurance Championship, but Whyte confirmed that Honda will be officially represented on the grid this year.

“The official Honda team will be back again although I have nothing finalised as yet,” he said.

“There is no date clash with the World Endurance Championship this year so they will be free to attend the North West 200 and we’re glad they will be back.”



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