By Title sponsored by the principal event title sponsor, Briggs Equipment, Saturday’s first Superbike race burst was next to excite the hardy, passionate trackside NW200 crowd.
As on Thursday evening, the front row compiled of 8TEN Racing BMW’s Peter Hickman and Davey Todd plus Dean Harrison. At 11:51 PM, it was ignition go!
King of The Roads Champion Todd led into York Corner, Hickman held second, Harrison occupied third.
Hickman, Michael Dunlop both went up the slip road at the Magherabuoy Chicane, then more drama, struck on the run to Church Corner with Harrison, Dunlop, Ian Hutchinson all running straight on.
All of this left eight plate holder Todd, with a commanding advantage, as lap two perked up. John McGuinness MBE was rolling back the years, holding third behind TT Races lap record holder Hickman.
Todd tightened further his grip on P1 across lap two, stretching the race-lead to an amazing 9.219 seconds.
Behind, Hickman looked safe in P2 whilst Alastair Seeley, making up for Thursday night’s lap-one misfortune moved up to third with Hutchinson, Harrison, Erno Kostamo fourth to sixth.
With two laps to go, the front four order was Todd, Hickman, Seeley and remarkably, despite incurring a timing penalty for earlier race issues, Dunlop astride the Rokit/Hawk Racing/FHO Racing backed M1000RR BMW.
As lap six dawned, Todd still on aggregate timing in control, race-lead was trimmed to under 2.6 seconds by team-mate Hickman.
Second on the road, Dunlop soon got past Todd and now had usurped Seeley for P3.
Dunlop ended an amazing comeback ride, by finishing first across the line but first on the timing screens was Todd.
Todd’s final winning margin stood at a shade over five seconds with Hickman holding off Dunlop for second.
Then there was a twist in the winner’s enclosure as Dunlop was then declared race winner in front of Todd and Hickman.
Who had won? A decision later? Stewards’ inquiry? Eventually the result was decided.
Dunlop P1, Todd P2, Hickman P3. You could tell post-race emotions were running high, in my opinion not the NW200’s greatest hour.
For definite, the fourth to tenth place finishers were Seeley, Harrison, Hutchinson, McGuinness MBE, Kostamo, Josh Brookes and Dafabet Racing’s Michael Evans.
Briggs Equipment Superbike Race Result:
1st – Michael Dunlop
2nd – Davey Todd
3rd – Peter Hickman
4th – Alastair Seeley
5th – Dean Harrison
6th – Ian Hutchinson
7th – John McGuinness MBE
8th – Erno Kostamo
9th – Josh Brookes
10th – Michael Evans
11th – Sam West
12th – Michael Rutter
13th – David Johnson
14th – Nathan Harrison
15th – Mitch Rees
16th – Marcus Simpson
17th – Luca Gottardi
18th – James Chawke
19th – Phil Crowe
20th – Eddy Ferre
21st – Marty Lennon
22nd – Aaron Spence
23rd – Joe Yeardsley
24th – Ryan Whitehall
25th – Barry Furber
26th – Don Gilbert
27th – Laurent Hoffmann
28th – Kris Duncan
29th – Sean McTaggart
30th – Graham McAleese
31st – Michael Gahan
32nd – Paul ‘Potchy’ Williams
33rd – Rhys Hardisty
34th – David Brook
35th – Dermot Cleary
36th – Jean Pierre Polet
37th – Liam Chawke
38th – Wayne Bourgeais
Photo credit: Derek Wilson
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
