Keith Amor battled the elements at Saturday’s International North West 200 road races but the Rig Deluge Road Racing rider was duly rewarded for his efforts with three top ten finishes from his three races, including a best of fifth in the Supersport race.

With the 8.9-mile course seriously affected all day by strong, gusting winds and rain showers, as well as some red flag incidents, it was a long day for all concerned and after the first Superstock race had to be cancelled, Keith’s first outing came in the 600cc Supersport race.

With relatively good conditions for the race, some of the best all day, a good start to the six lap race saw Keith slot into eighth at the end of the opening lap and here he remained until half race distance, just behind John McGuinness, James Hillier and Gary Johnson. However, on the fourth lap there was a small rain shower on the University and Ballysally Roundabout section of the circuit and Keith was the most comfortable of the four riders in the damp and jumped up to fifth immediately, a position he held all the way to the chequered flag.

A disappointing opening lap in the Superbike encounter left Keith mired in the pack down in 19th place and with only five laps he didn’t have much time to make progress. However, that’s exactly what he did and with the BMW working well he climbed all the way up to tenth at the conclusion of the race.

After a short break he was back out on track, this time on the BMW Superstock machine with the race again being held over five laps. The Falkirk ace completed the first lap in tenth place and this had become eighth as he started his penultimate lap running just behind James Hillier once more. The duo enjoyed a good battle over the remaining two laps and although Keith had to give best to Hillier, there was only 0.1s between them at the end of the race with both riders lapping comfortably in excess of 117mph.

Unfortunately, the weather then deteriorated as wind speeds increased to more than 40mph and with the time having already reached 7.15pm, organisers decided to cancel the race on safety grounds.

Keith Amor: “It’s been a difficult day for everyone and I lost count of how many times we changed tyres on the bikes. The weather was changing literally from minute to minute but the team did an absolutely magnificent job and they worked non-stop so to reward them with three International top ten finishes is very pleasing. We’ve made so much progress with all three bikes this week it’s unreal and from the position we were in when we arrived, we’ve now advanced forward so much.”

“I was happy with all three of my rides and, despite the 30-40mph winds we had to contend with, the bikes felt really stable and we’ve definitely found some decent settings for them which should stand us in good stead for the TT. The competition and racing was, as expected, intense, and I had to work hard for all three results. I’ve got to say a massive thanks to the entire Rig Deluge Road Racing team and also to BMW, Ohlins and Dunlop so we can head to the TT in confident mood.”

The Isle of Man TT Races take place from Saturday May 30th to Friday June 12th.

Picture by Pacemaker Press International