One rider ruled out of Isle of Man TT debut after North West 200 crash

Gary McCoy has been named as one of the riders involved in a serious North West 200 crash on Wednesday, with the Ulsterman confirming he is out of the rest of the event.

The 2025 North West 200 got underway on Wednesday with the opening day of qualifying, though it was heavily affected by three red flags.

Two lengthy stoppages were forced due to separate oil spills in the Superbike session, before an on-track incident early in the Supersport outing led to another red flag.

Two riders were involved, with one being taken by road to hospital while another was airlifted.

The former has been confirmed as McCoy, who says he was hit from behind at Mill Road, and will miss the remainder of the North West 200 and his TT debut due to his injuries.

“Just thought I'd give a quick update to everyone as I have had a lot of kind messages and well wishers,” he said on Facebook.

“Yesterday afternoon I was involved in a crash which was totally out of my control when a rider behind me lost control of his machine and rear ended me on the approach to Mill Road Roundabout.

“Unfortunately this will rule me out of any further racing at the NW200 this year and my debut as a newcomer to the Isle of Man TT.

“Thanks to everyone for the help and support and I hope the other rider has a speedy recovery also.”

The organisers have yet to officially name both riders involved in the incident, but BBC Sport reports the second was Craig Neve.

Neve is thought to have suffered serious injuries, but not life-threatening ones.

The organisers released this statement on Wednesday evening: "Two riders were involved in an incident at Mill Road roundabout on the NW200 course six minutes into the Supersport qualifying session.

“Both riders were injured in the incident and the on-course medical team attended the scene.

“The riders were subsequently transferred to hospital, one by road ambulance and the other by air ambulance.”

North West 200 qualifying continues on Thursday morning, before the first races take place this evening.

The scheduled has been slightly tweaked for qualifying, with the Supertwin and Superstock bikes getting bumped up the order having had no time on Wednesday due to the stoppages.

Peter Hickman was the outright fastest rider on Wednesday on his 8TEN Racing BMW.