In 2011 the opening supersport race at the North west 200 started in wet conditions all round. On pole was Alastair Seeley on the Relentless Suzuki GSX-R 600 supersport bike and it was Seeley who got the hole shot but soon it was Gary Johnson on the East coast racing CBR 600 Honda that took the lead. Mid way through lap 1 the lead at the front was changing all the time, on lap 1 we had in total 4 different leaders with Seeley, Johnson, Anstey and Farquhar all having turns at the front of the race.
At the end of lap 1 it was Gary Johnson who held a narrow lead over Alastair Seeley in second place with Bruce Anstey and Ryan Farquhar close behind in 3rd and 4th. On lap 2 Seeley hit the front again whilst Cameron Donald was on a charge moving up to second place on the Wilson Craig racing Honda CBR 600 supersport machine. Soon after Donald had moved into second place it soon became a battle between Honda and Suzuki machinery as Cameron Donald and Alastair Seeley diced for the race lead.
Bruce Anstey still held third place at the end of lap 3 with Gary Johnson in fourth place with Michael Dunlop holding 5th and Ryan Farquhar completing the top six. On lap 4 at the front the lead was going one way or another as Seeley and Donald continued to battle it out at the front, Anstey had pulled away from Johnson in fourth place with Michael Dunlop still holding fifth place.
Onto the final lap and it was Alastair Seeley who held a small advantage over Cameron Donald in second place. As the end of the race approached Seeley pulled slightly further in front of Donald and at the line it was Alastair Seeley who took race victory for the Relentless Suzuki by TAS team only 0.844 of a second in front of Cameron Donald on the Wilson Craig racing Honda supersport bike.
Bruce Anstey took third place on the Padgetts Honda CBR 600 supersport bike 14 seconds behind the top 2 in the race. Michael Dunlop took fourth place on the Street Sweep R6 Yamaha, fifth place went to Gary Johnson for East Coast racing and the second Wilson Craig racing supersport bike of William Dunlop finished in sixth place.
Ryan Farquhar was the first Kawasaki home in seventh place, Guy Martin took 8th place ahead of Lee Johnston who took a brilliant 9th place for East Coast racing. Rounding out the top 10 was Conor Cummins on his return to road racing for the Mcadoo Kawasaki team. There was many standout rides in the tricky conditions in the supersport race, they included Robert Wilson taking a fine 12th place on the Stoddart racing ZX6 Kawasaki.
Plus there was also a good performance from Simon Fulton who took 16th place on the FVS racing R6 Yamaha. Overall in spite of the tough conditions around the North west 200 circuit we saw some of the best racing for many years in the supersport class at the North west 200, the battle for race victory between Alastair Seeley and Cameron Donald was entertaining to watch.