McGuinness and Amor to miss NW200?

Race fans in Northern Ireland have been shocked to hear that John McGuinness and Keith Amor may be forced to miss the 2011 North West 200.

The race on May 21 clashes with the second round of the World Endurance Championship at Albacete in Spain on May 22, which McGuinness and Amor are due to ride in for the new Honda TT Legends team announced on Sunday during the Carol Nash Motorcycle Live at the NEC.

The Albacete date was originally scheduled for June 25 and is still listed as such in the official championship dates on the FIM website.

But when a British round at Donington Park on August 21 was added to the calendar, the FIM issued a press release which included a revised May 21 date for the Albacete round!

NW200 race director Mervyn Whyte has considered re-scheduling the Irish road race to accommodate the high-prolife Honda team but says other factors have contrived to make that impossible.

He told MCN: “Neil Tuxworth (Honda Racing TT Legends team manager) called me Sunday to say that he had discovered there was a clash of dates with the NW200 and Albacete and asked if would it be possible for us to reschedule our race.

“The problem is that since we announced our date four weeks ago, people have been booking up and we’ll be crucified if we re-schedule now. It’s not fair on the fans.

“The weekend before is Croft BSB (on May 13-15) but their championship dates are now fixed, and a weekend earlier is ruled out because there are local elections.

“The only hope is that the Spanish round can be rescheduled. I’m sure McGuinness and Amor will want a run out on the roads before they go to the TT.” Neil Tuxworth was unavailable for comment.