Mervyn Whyte has been NW 200 clerk of the course since 2001

Mervyn Whyte plans to step down from his North West 200 clerk of the course role but hopes to remain centrally involved in the running of the event.

Whyte told BBC Sport that the day-to-day demands of the event had become too much for one man to manage.

The Limavady man says there is a "business case that the government give us backing" so that he could take on a new overall race director's role.

"The North West 200 brings roughly £10m to the local economy," added Whyte.

"It's an all-year round 70 to 80 hours a week workload.

"The event is hard is to manage and hard to control and what I'm looking for is help and that's why I'm planning to give up the clerk of the course duties.

"I've been involved in the North West 200 for a long number of years.

"But unfortunately if I can't get backing and funding to bring someone on board to run the event alongside myself, then I'm not going to have any alternative but to give up the North West 200.

"I would propose taking on a race director's role when I would manage and oversee the complete operation of the North West 200.

"Hopefully, someone would take on the day-to-day duties alongside me and eventually take on the clerk of the course duties.

"It's not going to happen overnight because it's a massive job."

Whyte has been involved in the organising of the North West 200 since 1972 and he was appointed clerk of the course in 2001.

Earlier this year, Whyte was appointed as MCRCB Chief Steward for the ViSK British Superbike Championship.

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