Supertwins pioneer Ryan Farquhar will meet North West 200 boss Mervyn Whyte week to discuss plans for next year’s revamped schedule at the international road race.

Technical director Whyte told News Letter Sport in May that he would examine the possibility of holding a two-day event in 2012 after the sporting showpiece on the Causeway Coast suffered a catastrophic setback.

A combination of factors including inclement weather, a hoax bomb alert and an oil slick led to the cancellation of the North West with only one race completed – the opening Supersport event – which was won by Alastair Seeley.

And last week Whyte confirmed that racing will indeed be spread over two days next year subject to the outcome of a public consultation with residents affected by the proposals.

The Supertwins 650cc class – which has been incorporated into the NW200 programme for the first time – and a Superstock event have been pencilled in on the Thursday evening of race week following daytime practice.

Next year’s Isle of Man TT will also include a Supertwins race, providing an incentive for some of the sport’s so-called bigger names to compete in the class.

Farquhar has long been an ambassador of the Supertwins class in Northern Ireland and fielded three of his Kawasaki ER6 machines at the Sunflower Trophy meeting, with ex-Grand Prix ace Jeremy McWilliams and former Junior British Superstock champ Jamie Hamilton riding in Farquhar’s KMR livery.

The 35-year-old has welcomed the inclusion of the class at the North West, but intends to press for a second Supertwins event on race day.

At present, a Supertwins and Superstock race will be held on Thursday, with five races planned for race day – two Supersport and Superbike events and a second Superstock race, with the Superstock class operating on a new aggregate points system over the two days.

But Farquhar is optimistic he can persuade the organisers to include a second Supertwins race on the Saturday.

He told News Letter Sport: “I’ve a few things to discuss with Mervyn and one of the main things I want to raise is holding a second, four-lap Supertwins race on the Saturday.

“It can only work in the organisers’ favour, because if it was wet for example on the morning of race day they could rearrange the schedule and put out the Supertwins machines; they have much less horsepower and pose less of a risk plus they could do four laps on wet tyres without any problems.

“In that scenario it would buy the organisers more time to allow the conditions to improve, plus it would give the fans around the course some action in the meantime,” Farquhar explained.

“Plus on a dry day you are going to have riders like Alastair Seeley riding in all five races, so if there was a second Supertwins race it would allow those riders to take a bit of a breather in between and the fans get more value for money too.

“It adds variety to the race programme and there is no reason why you couldn’t have six races on the Saturday – it’s been done before without any problems.

“There’s been too much time wasted messing about in between races on the grid for TV interviews, but we need to get stuck into the racing and get the races run because that’s all the fans want to see.

“It’s a competitive class and you’ll have some other top riders building a Supertwin for the TT, so it will make for good racing at the North West and you’ll definitely have full grids, so that would give the Coleraine club more money from entry fees as well.”

The 2012 North West 200 will be held on Saturday, May 19 with practice on Tuesday, 15 and additional practice and racing on Thursday, May 17.

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