North West 200 Controversy leads to Top Rider Threatening to Quit

Peter Hickman has threatened to stop racing at the North West 200 after admitting the rules are “bent for certain people”.

This comes after his main TT rival in recent years, Michael Dunlop, was reinstated as the winner of the second Superbike race.

Hickman was left frustrated when teammate and fellow co-owner of the 8TEN Racing team Davey Todd was demoted to second after Dunlop, who was initially penalised for running off the road on the opening lap, was given back the win post-race. 

Todd was leading the race until the final lap when he was passed by Dunlop, who ran off twice on the first tour, but it was the first of those errors at the Mather’s chicane which caused the controversy.

Unlike Hickman, who made a similar error, Dunlop failed to stop and put his foot down when he ran through the chicane. Dunlop allegedly said after the race that he didn’t go through the stop box, meaning he was not required to stop and put his foot down before re-joining the race.

But Hickman didn’t have the same viewpoint, instead claiming the rules are not the same for every rider and that the 2025 North West was likely to be his last as a result.

Speaking after race three in the superbike class, which he retired from on the opening lap, Hickman told the Belfast Newsletter: “A bit of a sad end really, and there’s a lot of stuff going on, a lot of things happened that shouldn’t have happened, so that’ll probably be my last ever North West unfortunately.”

“We’re not going to be here and be treated the way we’re being treated, and rules being bent for certain people but not others. It’s not right, it’s not fair, so that’s it, I’m afraid.”

Todd believes he should have won the race regardless of Dunlop going through the chicane as he was far enough ahead before a technical issue limited him late on. Despite missing out on the win, Todd still claimed two out of three superbike race wins and three victories in total over the course of the event, the same number as Dunlop.

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