CONTROVERSY is never far removed from the high octane sport of motorcycle road racing, and Saturday’s main day of action at the 2025 North West 200 was no exception.

Having won two races on the opening night two days earlier, Michael Dunlop was among the favourites again.

But he and chief rival Peter Hickman both ran on at Mather's chicane on the opening lap of the first Superbike race of the day.

Hickman briefly stopped and put his foot down, but Dunlop ran straight through and re-joined the track a few yards farther on, although he did lose two or three places in the process.

As a result, Dunlop received a 10-second penalty. On near-lap-record pace and seemingly unaware of his penalty, he battled through strongly from fifth place to grab the lead from Davey Todd in the closing stages and was first across the line, a fraction under two seconds in front.

Upon being told that he’d been docked 10 seconds, and was therefore demoted to third place behind Todd and Hickman, Dunlop removed his crash helmet and discussed the matter with clerk of the course Mervyn White in the winners’ enclosure.

White was heard to ask Dunlop if he had gained an advantage by taking the slip road (missing the chicane) and he answered ‘No’.

This was technically correct, but the footage did not show him either coming to a standstill or putting a foot down. However, the 10s penalty was rescinded so the race win went to Dunlop.

Hickman was understandably unhappy, refusing to step up onto the podium and later saying: ‘This decision marred the day for our team. Instead of having a 1-2, it was a 2-3 and it’s the type of controversy we’ve come to expect from the event.

‘It leaves a sour taste in the mouth and it’s what we’ve come to expect as year on year we keep taking a kicking. We can’t keep taking it and unfortunately, it probably means this will be my last North West 200.’

Mikey Evans was the leading Manxman in 10th place on the Dafabet Racing Honda, followed by Nathan Harrison (H&H Motorcycles Honda) in 14th, Marcus Simpson (WH Racing Honda) in 16th and Joe Yeardsley (Scott Racing Aprilia) 23rd.

The day began with the first Supertwin race of the meeting, won by Englishman Richard Cooper after a close battle with Adam McLean, with veteran former MotoGP regular Jeremy McWilliams, now aged 61, third. Castletown’s Paul Cassidy was 20th on his eSIMGo Kawasaki.

Later, in another close contest between McLean and Cooper, Paul Jordan recorded his first NW200 success when McLean crashed out at Juniper on the penultimate lap and Cooper also came down after colliding with his fallen bike.

Davey Todd was victorious in the Superstock race after a close race with Laxey resident Dean Harrison on the Honda Racing machine.

The pair swapped the lead on multiple occasions, the Honda appearing to have superior top-end speed, but Todd took the win by six tenths of a second with Hickman third – Dunlop having retired.

Evans was on the leaderboard throughout, finishing ninth behind John McGuinness, with Nathan Harrison 12th and Cassidy 34th on his Island Fuels Yamaha.

The Supersport race was also quite controversial with Cooper taking the win from Dean Harrison and Dunlop after a pulsating three-way contest in the restarted event over four laps.

Harrison tried to go up the inside of Cooper at Juniper as he'd done earlier, but the latter closed the door and they made contact. Both went onto the grass, cutting the chicane, with Cooper emerging ahead to take the win by 0.14s.

Dunlop stayed within the track limits, but lost out to Cooper and Harrison in the short uphill run to the finish, later complaining that he’d lost out by sticking to the course.

Nathan Harrison was pleased with 11th place and Jamie Cringle likewise with 16th in his NW200 debut year on the Parker Transport Yamaha. He had been 25th in Thursday’s first Supersport race.

The final race of the meeting was cut short to five laps after a two-bike crash approaching the final bend.

This was the feature race and the third of the meeting for Superbikes. Hickman grabbed his first holeshot of the week and led for the first half lap before pulling up on the run to Coleraine University.

Todd, Dean Harrison and Alastair Seeley were then on the front, soon to be joined by Dunlop who had made a poor start.

The latter was undoubtedly quicker than Todd and Harrison, and he passed for the lead as Seeley dropped back.

But Dunlop retired the Hawk Racing BMW with a problem on the rear left-side of the bike at Mather's chicane on lap five.

Todd and Harrison were set for a last lap showdown on the final lap when the red flags came out and the result was declared on the positions at the end of lap five when Todd held a 0.398s advantage. It was Todd’s second win of the meeting, Harrison’s fifth podium and his 15th overall at the NW200.

A rejuvenated Ian Hutchinson was fourth behind Seeley, followed by Josh Brookes and John McGuinness, with Erno Kostamo of Finland, Michael Rutter, Conor Cummins and David Johnson completing the top-10.

Evans retired from ninth place on lap four with a stretched chain, Nathan Harrison went out early on with an electrical issue and Yeardsley retired on lap three experiencing further problems with the V4. Simpson and Cassidy were non-starters.