Ryan Farquhar disqualified from the Regal 600cc podium

Dungannon rider Ryan Farquhar became the first rider in the history of the NW200 to be disqualified from a race.

Farquhar had earlier claimed a 600cc double in the rain-effected meeting around the Portrush-Portstewart-Coleraine circuit.

However, Farquhar's victory laurels for the Regal 600cc race were removed after race stewards upheld a protest by second-placed Ian Lougher.

The Dromore-based Welshman who had been leading at the time, alleged that Farquhar initiated an over-taking manoeuvre on the last lap under an oil flag.

Following a lengthy meeting the stewards considered Farquhar's move as dangerous and fined him �100 in addition to his disqualification.

However, Farquhar maintained his excellent shown in the early season meetings at Cookstown and Tandragee to claim his first-ever win at the North West meeting.

Heavy rain

He won the opening shortened 600cc race astride his Kawasaki when he was given the honour after a count back from Callum Ramsey with favourite Lougher third.

It was stopped on the fourth of the five laps as heavy rain swept across the circuit.

It was agreed that because of the dangerous riding conditions that results would be decided on placings at the end of the second lap.

Late in the day, the final scheduled big race, the North West 200 Superbike event, was cancelled after organisers judged that conditions were too dangerous to race.

Earlier, Adrian Archibald had claimed an overdue first ever win at the North West 200 when he took the Production event.

The Ballymoney man held off the in-form Farquhar while another TAS Suzuki rider David Jefferies took third.

Archibald held off Farquhar and Jefferies to win the Production race

Last year's Production winner Bruce Anstey had to settle for fourth place.

The Production race had earlier been halted because of an oil spill.

Archibald has been knocking on the door at the North West meeting for several years.

Last year, he lost out in a photo-finish with Iain Duffus in the Superbike event.

Earlier, Dromore-based Welshman Ian Lougher won the 125cc race at the rain-affected meeting astride his Mannin Honda.

It was Lougher's fourth successive victory in the race and he pipped Lincoln's Michael Wilcox for the laurels.

In third place was Ballymoney's Paul Robinson riding a Honda.

Also in the 125 event, Robert Dunlop was over 34 seconds behind the winner in eighth place while his son Willliam took 11th place.

In the 400cc race run in conjunction with the Junior race, Isle of Man's David Madsen-Mygdal came home ahead of Alex Donaldson with Bill Wark third.

Rider injured

There were no problems for Birmingham's Michael Rutter in the opening race of the day as grabbed the honours in the first Superbike race.

Rutter brought his Renegade Ducati home just 4.1 seconds ahead of Archibald on his TAS Suzuki.

In third place was England's Steve Plater on his Honda SP2 who was just ahead of Dungannon's Ryan Farquhar. .

In winning, Rutter, from Kirby Mallory, broke his own lap record with a speed of 121.34 mph. His previous record stood at 119.547.

English rider Keith Nicholls is understood to have sustained leg and arm injuries in a crash.

There were also reports that a bottle had been thrown onto the circuit.

Results

DeWalt Superbike Race 1:
1 Michael Rutter, 999 Ducati, 119.560.
2 Adrian Archibald, 1000 Suzuki, 119.188.
3 Steve Plater, 1000 Honda, 118.376.

Junior 600cc Race:
1 Ryan Farquhar, Kawasaki, 113.284.
2 Callum Ramsay, Honda, 113.210.
3 Ian Lougher, Honda, 113.170.

125cc Race:
1 Ian Lougher, Honda, 99.358.
2 Michael Wilcox, Honda, 99.197.
3 Paul Robinson, Honda, 99.423.

400cc Race:
1 David Madsen-Mygdal, Honda, 96.193.
2 Alex Donaldson, Kawasaki, 94.956.
3 Bill Wark, Honda, 94.645.

Production Race
1 A Archibald, Suzuki, 113.389
2 R Farquhar, Suzuki, 113.363
3 David Jefferies, Suzuki, 113.321

Regal 600
11 I Lougher, Honda, 108.975
2 B Anstey, Triumph, 108.544
3 A Archibald Suzuki 107.216.
Disqualified: R Farquhar.

North West 200 Superbike
Race cancelled