North West 200: Jeremy McWilliams, 59, adds Supersport to Supertwin ride

Jeremy McWilliams with Wilson Craig Racing principal Darren Gilpin and the Honda he will ride at the North West 200

Jeremy McWilliams has added a Supersport machine to the Supertwin he was already scheduled to ride at next week's North West 200 road races.

The 59-year-old will ride a Honda for Wilson Craig Racing in the Supersport outings, in addition to his Paton.

McWilliams is a three-time Supertwin winner at the event, the most successful rider in the history of that class which was introduced in 2012.

He finished third in the opening Supersport race last year.

On that occasion, the Newtownabbey rider was aboard a Yamaha supplied by the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing team and took the final rostrum position in wet conditions behind winner Alastair Seeley and Davey Todd.

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McWilliams rode a Wilson Craig Honda in the 600cc races at last year's Sunflower Trophy event and the opportunity to renew his connection with the team for the NW200 came after Matthew Rees crashed out of the recent Cookstown 100 road races, breaking his back and wrist.

"Matthew will require an operation on his wrist and he is very disappointed to be missing the North West." WCR team principal, Darren Gilpin explained.

"I had already spoken to Jeremy about joining the team for the North West. He has a lot of experience and our team also has plenty of racing experience so I think we all know what to expect."

McWilliams says there was never any doubt he would be back racing at this year's NW200 and with a new Honda engine on its way from the Ten Kate World Supersport squad he is looking forward to his annual outing around the 8.9 mile Triangle course.

"I never envisaged I wouldn't be back." he smiled. "When the opportunity arose to be on good bikes like the Wilson Craig machines and the Paton it was one not to be missed."

"It was a decent scrap," recalled McWilliams of last year's Thursday night Supersport joust.

"I was battling with Davey in the wet and the circuit was in good shape. It was as much fun riding in the wet as the dry, just a lot colder! By the end I think all three of us thought we had given it everything," added the ex-grand prix rider, who maintains his bike fitness by competing in the Baggers series in the USA and working as a test rider for KTM,

The veteran racer says everything depends upon getting a good start in the frenetic Supersport class, something he missed out on during Saturday's race 12 months ago.

"You have to get away in the wave if you want to get the slipstream and stay with the leaders to get yourself into the right place at the right time." he explained.

"Unfortunately, the pack got broken up last year in Saturday's race when James Hillier crashed."

There was some consolation for McWilliams later in the day as he secured the final rostrum placing in the Supertwin race behind Joe Loughlin and Lee Johnston after Richard Cooper was disqualified because of a machine infringement.