NW200 to run daytime practice session on Thursday

Mervyn Whyte says a daytime practice will make the NW200 safer

The North West 200 is set to feature a daytime practice session on Thursday for the first time this year.

North West 200 personnel have been consulting with key organisations, residents and business people in the area of the circuit since December.

It is anticipated that roads will close at 0930 BST and re-open at 1500 BST.

There will be no change to the Tuesday practice session, with roads closing at 1700 BST and re-opening at 2130 BST, as in recent years.

A letter explaining the background to the concept was distributed to residents located around the nine-mile circuit last week.

"The new daytime practice on Thursday will replicate raceday conditions such as road temperatures, setting sun and timing, so enabling riders to become very familiar with the course layout," said Race Director Mervyn Whyte.

"The daytime practice also addresses the problem in previous years of lack of practice time for competitors and allows us, for the first time, to run all classes separately.

"We believe altering the time of the traditional Thursday practice session will dramatically improve the overall safety of the event," he added.