Guy Martin sparke﷽d controversy at the North West 200 on Thursday after claiming the event doesn't count as a 'proper road race'.

The Tyco BMW star also slammed the number of chicanes implemented around the 8.9-mile course and claimed the growing number of short circuit riders attaining succ🥃ess at the event shouldn't class themselves as road races.

A disgruntled Martin, who h𓄧as never won a race at the North West 2🐈00, said: "I'm sick of these chicanes and I was just thinking, are there any circuits in the world with the same chicanes-to-mile-ratio worse than the North West 200?

"I love riding the bike and I love going fast, ☂but going down the back straight it feels boring really. The next th﷽ing there's a chicane, then you come out of the chicane and get back up to sixth gear again, then there's another chicane.

"What are there, five chicanes? ♈I mean, yeah," added 🥂Martin.

"I can understand why they've had to do that but for me the North West isn't a proper road race.
"You go to the likes of the Ulster [Grand Prix], Cookstown and the TT and there are no chi🌌canes there it's raw road racing and if it goes wrong it gets messy, but that's what I like about road racing.

"You get boys coming here that are a lot faster than me like [Alastair] Seeley and the short circuit boys who go well and then call themselves a road race✤r," said Martin.

"But for me, you're not really a road racer coming to the North West and racing along🍸 straights with some chicanes - fair play to them, but it's not for me."