Storm Stacey takes second North West 200 win as oil spill halts feature Superbike race
Storm Stacey completed a debut double at the 2026 North West 200 by winning the second Superbike race on Saturday 9 May. The Bathams AJN/Alpha Racing BMW rider was declared the winner ahead of Dean Harrison and Glenn Irwin after an oil spill prompted a red flag before the six-lap race could run its planned distance. The declared result was based on the order after three completed laps. It was an extraordinary second success for a 23-year-old racing the Triangle for the first time, but the circumstances of the stoppage need to be part of the account.
Three laps determined the outcome
Stacey had led past the finish line at the end of each of the first three laps. He initially moved ahead of Irwin at York Corner on the opening circuit, while Harrison also took turns in front at points around Magherabouy. The three riders fought in close company rather than forming a settled procession. Officials then encountered oil on the Coast Road beyond Juniper chicane, and with a 6.45pm deadline for the roads to reopen, there was insufficient time to clear the hazard and run the remaining distance.
The organisers consequently declared the result with Stacey first, Honda’s Harrison second and Nitrous Competitions Ducati rider Irwin third. Peter Hickman placed fourth, Josh Brookes fifth and Ian Hutchinson sixth. It would be wrong to describe Stacey as taking the chequered flag after six laps or to assume that the order would certainly have remained unchanged over the full distance. Equally, a red-flag result is an official race victory when the rules permit classification at the completed distance; it is not simply a practice result or an unofficial placing.
The end of an established Irwin sequence
The second Superbike race was especially important because Irwin had won the opening contest of the day, recording his twelfth North West Superbike victory. Before his one-year absence in 2025, the Carrickfergus rider had taken eleven consecutive Superbike victories across successive editions of the event. Stacey’s win brought an end to that extraordinary run of wins when Irwin competed. Irwin himself acknowledged afterwards that Stacey and Harrison had both ridden exceptionally well and that all three had shared the lead in the contest.
Stacey had already surprised the paddock by winning Superstock earlier in the day ahead of Michael Dunlop. In that race he set a new class lap record of 124.498mph. His Superbike success was a separate victory on a BMW against two different leading rivals, reinforcing that the opening result was not an isolated stroke of luck. Saturday produced five different individual race winners, but Stacey alone took two victories. The pair of results put a newcomer at the centre of the North West weekend in a way few arrivals have managed.
The weekend’s unusual demands
The organisers described strong winds and seven red-flag stoppages spread across Saturday’s six races. Thursday’s scheduled contests had been cancelled following the fatal qualifying accident involving Czech rider Kamil Holan. That loss is a serious part of the factual setting of the meeting, not a dramatic flourish to embellish racing results. Officials still had to manage the competition within the permitted road-closure arrangements and respond to safety incidents when they occurred.
This is why the final Superbike result needs careful wording. The oil spill was the reason the contest did not reach its intended distance, and the three-lap classification decided the podium. The story should not invent what might have happened had the race continued. What can be said firmly is that Stacey led each completed lap, finished ahead in the declared order, and emerged from his first North West with wins in both Superstock and Superbike.
