North West Slopes
The North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia refers generally to the area west of the Northern Tablelands, to the north of the Central West region and to the east of the Far West region. The region corresponds generally to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's forecast area of North West Slopes and Plains.
It is higher, hillier and wetter on its eastern edge than on its western edge. The North West Slopes are situated on various tributaries to the Darling River, which rise in the Great Dividing Range country to its east, such as the Barwon, Gwydir, and Namoi Rivers.
The North West Slopes includes the towns of Gunnedah, Warialda, Manilla, Boggabri, Mungindi, Narrabri, Moree, Quirindi, Wee Waa, the city of Tamworth and many villages.
It has traditionally been a major wheat-growing area, but in recent decades irrigated crops, especially cotton, have become significant. The primary exports are cotton, coal, beef, lamb and pork, cereal and oilseed grains.
The North West region is traversed by the New England Highway, Newell Highway, the Kamilaroi Highway, Oxley Highway and the Gwydir Highway and by railways such as the Main Western railway line, linking Bourke to Sydney with connections to the port of Newcastle. The Main North railway line trains no longer continue to the Queensland border, but Werris Creek, Tamworth and Kootingal are still served by the NSW TrainLink Xplorer service between Sydney and Armidale.
Points of the compass
The points of the compass are points on a compass, specifically on the compass rose, marking divisions of the four cardinal directions: North, South, East, West. The number of points may be only the 4 cardinal points, or the 8 principal points adding the intercardinal (or ordinal) directions northeast (NE), southeast (SE), southwest (SW), and northwest (NW). In meteorological usage further intermediate points are added to give the sixteen points of a wind compass. Finally, at the most complete in European tradition, are found the full thirty-two points of the mariner's compass. In ancient China 24 points of the compass were used.
In the mariner's exercise of boxing the compass, all thirty-two points of the compass are named in clockwise order. The names of intermediate points are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading (or course or azimuth) in a general or colloquial fashion, without having to resort to computing or recalling degrees. For most applications, the minor points have been superseded by degrees measured clockwise from North.
2006 North West 200 Races
The 2006 North West 200 Races took place on Saturday 13 May 2006 at the 8.966 mile circuit, dubbed "The Triangle", based around the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush, in Northern Ireland.
Steve Plater and Bruce Anstey both scored double victories at the meeting. Robert Dunlop also recorded the last of his 15 victories, winning the 125 cc event. The current course lap record was set by Steve Plater at 124.109 mph (199.734 km/h) during the Supersport race.
Results
New Lap Record: Bruce Anstey, 116.743 mph
New Lap Record: Robert Dunlop, 103.153 mph
New Lap Record: Ian Hutchinson, 120.142 mph
2008 North West 200 Races
The 2008 North West 200 took place on Saturday 17 May at the 8.966 mile circuit, dubbed "The Triangle", based around the towns of Coleraine, Portrush and Portstewart, in Northern Ireland. The meeting was overshadowed by the death of Northern Irish rider Robert Dunlop, the record-holder for wins at the circuit, who was killed in a practice crash on 15 May. The 47-year-old had been travelling in a group of three riders at the Mather's Cross section of the course, when his bike seized at 160 mph. He would later succumb to his injuries in a Coleraine hospital. Robert's sons Michael and William continued to race at the meeting, with Michael winning the 250cc race.
Practice
