Racing at the Northwest 200 was abandoned at 5.20pm on Saturday after organisers were only able to run one race. Overcoming heavy wind and rain and a bomb scare, the first Superbike race was only three-quarters of a lap old when Ryan Farquhar's KMR kawasaki expired depositing oil along the coast road. A lengthy delay followed whilst the organisers tried to clean the oil up.

However, after another two sighting laps, riders were still unhappy with the condition of the course with Bruce Anstey saying, "It's too dangerous at the moment and all the way from the railway bridge to Black Hill, there's still oil."

James Hillier added: "The problem is that you can't see where the oil is even though the marshals and spectators are waving to slow you down. Then there's the spray and if one person was to go down, three or four would follow. I'd be happy to practice under the conditions but not race; I'd prefer to come back next year."

Helicopter coverage showed Guy Martin having slides through the section on both of the sighting laps and he went out in the course car with technical director Mervyn Whyte to inspect and highlight the problem areas. Further delays followed as more clean-up work took place with Martin stating:

"It's better than it was and if you're riding on your own it wouldn't be a problem but it wouldn't take much for you to drift off line and go down and when you're racing in a pack, it could be carnage. There's spectators watching near there as well and you could have a bike cartwheel into them so there's lots to consider. The rain's not a problem and I'd have raced if it wasn't for the oil but it's just too much of a job to clear up."

After a further delay, the simple announcement came that no further racing would take place and everyone was left to run what might have been. It was a day when anything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong.

Whyte said: "This is obviously extremely disappointing for everyone, riders, spectators, sponsors and the hundreds of volunteers who have worked tirelessly towards this day. Unfortunately, the fact is that the oil spill was just too extensive to clean up to ensure an optimum level of safety for the riders. Despite repeated efforts by the cleanup team the affected stretch of road was just still in too dangerous a condition to continue racing."

"Combined with the delays caused by a hoax security alert and the inclement weather it has been a challenging day. Despite this we enjoyed a very close run in Supersport Race 1 which was won by local rider Alastair Seeley. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this year's Relentless International NW200 for their patience and support today and we look forward to running a full programme next year."