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PORTSTEWART, BT55 7YZ

The spectators are on the Portstewart golf course watching Ireland's best attended sporting event. The race route runs along the road to the right of the golf course and in front of the houses. To the left is the coast and the north Atlantic.

Looking westwards.

From the Portrush Road.

Screaming down the coast road at 140 miles per hour plus, this left hander can come as a shock to the average guy. It's fortunate that these guys aren't average and in less than six minutes some of these riders will be cruising on these public roads at speeds in excess to 200 mph!! That's the Northwest 200 you see and that explains why some 130,000 spectators turn up here on the North Antrim coast year after year to witness this spectacle.

One of Portstewart Golf Club's three courses.

Enjoying a round of golf.

And it's hard left at York Corner; they'll be back here in a matter of minutes having flashed through 8.9 statute miles!

The news of a fatality has just reached the ears of this partisan group of spectators at Northern Ireland's Northwest 200 motorcycle road races. Their heartfelt sadness is palpable.

This is the first major corner on this 8.9 mile circuit which is the Northwest 200. It is the Superbike category and there's drama all the way. These guys will average the course at around 120 mph plus and some will tear down the Portrush straight at 208 mph.

Martin Jessop astride Number 40 leads the pack into York Corner on the first lap of the Supertwin race of the Northwest 200 of 2016. It was during lap three of this race that a young rider paid the ultimate price and the meeting was subsequently ended. Northern Ireland is the forerunner in the world of motorcycle road racing and with the progress of engineering as it is, it is little wonder that questions are being asked as to what speeds motor cycle road racers will be permitted to have access to in the future. During this meeting, Michael Dunlop recorded a speed of just over 210 MPH.