Jeremy McWilliams ‘caught napping’ amid North West 200 last lap confusion

Peter Hickman’s win in the North West 200 Supertwin Race 1 came amid confusion over the lap count.

Scheduled for four laps, the Supertwin class road races at the North West 200 take around 20 minutes to complete, but with not all riders having pit boards around the track there is a reliance on race organisers to notify the riders when it is the last lap via a flag at the finish line.

This flag was not there at the end of lap three in Supertwin Race 1, which led to some confusion for Jeremy McWilliams who was passed for the lead on the final lap by Peter Hickman at Juniper Chicane.

“It’s nice to be on the podium,” McWilliams told BBC Sport NI after the race.

“I’d prefer to go one step up, but we’ve got another chance at it later on. 

“He just sort of caught me napping, I actually thought there was another lap to go because there was no last lap flag out. 

“So, I thought ‘We’ll be okay, we’ve got another lap to go, save a bit of energy’. I didn’t really protect the line. 

“Well done Hicky [Peter Hickman], it looks like he’s at a deficit a little bit on speed, so he must be riding the wheels off it to stay with me.”

McWilliams added that he’d have ridden the fourth lap more defensively if he was aware it was the final lap.

“Sure, of course you would’ve just braked a little bit later, let’s just say, and maybe stayed a little bit inside to stop that happening,” he said.

“But it was a good race anyway, I enjoyed leading it all. Lots of support out there on the track, which is awesome. A little bit disappointed, but we’ve got a chance to redeem ourselves later [in Supertwin Race 2].”

Hickman himself was also not completely sure that the last lap was indeed the last lap because of the lack of flag, but he had been counting the laps off in his head from the start.

“I wasn’t entirely sure if it was the last lap or not,” Hickman told BBC Sport NI.

“I was counting in my head, I don’t have a pit board, but they forgot to put the last lap flag out, but I was like ‘I’m pretty sure – I can count to four – it’s the last lap’. 

“So, I just went for it on the last lap, thought I’ll have a go. 

“Jezza [Jeremy McWilliams] was about the same, I think, he wasn’t sure if it was the last lap or not, but managed to get in there. Absolutely awesome.”