{"id":2697,"date":"2026-05-07T15:52:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2697"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:52:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:52:31","slug":"superbike-star-dies-after-crash-at-north-west-200-qualifying-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2697","title":{"rendered":"Superbike star dies after crash at North West 200 qualifying session"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<h2 class=\"LeadText_lead-text__wd_PA __className_5699b0\" data-testid=\"leadtext\">There was a fatal accident during qualifying for the North West 200 in Northern Ireland on Thursday, with the organisers confirming the news in a statement<\/h2>\n<div class=\"Byline_byline-container__K_Owl\" data-testid=\"byline\"><span class=\"Byline_byline-content-wrapper__Imque\" data-testid=\"byline-content\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"Byline_author-badge-date-wrapper__Q7jj1\">\n<p><span class=\"\" data-testid=\"byline-publishedDate\">15:40, 07 May 2026<\/span><span class=\"ArticleTimestamp_updated-date__7qD4Q ArticleTimestamp_updated-date-with-published__iFKpF\" data-testid=\"byline-updatedDate\">Updated 16:06, 07 May 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX ImageEmbed_image-lead__Ti3qQ\" data-testid=\"leadimage\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"37125276\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"North West 200\" loading=\"eager\" sizes=\"(max-width: 508px) 508px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37125276.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-07-at-153651.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37125276.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s508\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-07-at-153651.jpg 508w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37125276.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-07-at-153651.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article37125276.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-07-at-153651.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Riders at the North West 200 in 2023\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Riders at the North West 200 in 2023<cite aria-label=\"Image: Press Eye\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-credit__wlx1W\" data-testid=\"caption-credit\">(Image: Press Eye)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">A rider has died following a crash during qualifying for the North West 200 in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Racing was suspended on Thursday following the incident and organisers later announced that the unnamed rider had passed away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">A spokesperson said: \u201cA competitor at the 2026 Briggs Equipment North West 200 has died following an incident at Station corner on the NW200 course during this morning\u2019s Superbike qualifying session.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe session was immediately red flagged and emergency services attended the scene but unfortunately the rider succumbed to his injuries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe family have given their approval for the event to continue but have requested that the rider not be named at this time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cColeraine and District Motor Club, the organisers of the races, offer our sincere condolences to the family and team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Road Racing Ireland said it &#8220;extends its sincere condolences to the rider&#8217;s family, friends, team, and everyone affected by today&#8217;s events.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The North West 200 takes place on 8.97 miles of closed public roads around the &#8216;Triangle&#8217; circuit between Portrush, Portstewart and Coleraine. It is Northern Ireland&#8217;s largest outdoor sporting event, attracting around 100,000 spectators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The fatality is the first at the event since Malachi Mitchell-Thomas was killed in a Supertwins race in 2016.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Organisers also announced a revised schedule for Thursday evening. Roads are now open and will close as planned at 4.45pm with four qualifying sessions now replacing the scheduled races from 5.45pm onwards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There was a fatal accident during qualifying for the North West 200 in Northern Ireland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}