Whyte upbeat over North West future

North West 200 Race Director Mervyn Whyte is optimistic about the future of the event after agreeing a new five-year deal with BBC Sport NI, which will run until 2019.

Whyte announced a number of other changes for 2014, including the two Superbike races being extended to seven laps instead of the previous six.

A new alternate grid positioning system is also to be introduced to take account of possible wet and dry practice and qualifying sessions.