By Two laps longer than Thursday night’s Fraser Homes Supersport race, Saturday afternoon’s six-lap Tides Restaurant middleweight class race stint promised hard-fought, no quarter asked, no quarter given competition.
No.1 out the starting blocks was Davey Todd, who looked relaxed pre-race chatting to VIP’s.
By University Corner, Michael Browne briefly led only for Todd to go back to P1.
His reign at the front didn’t last long though as Bob Smith Spring Cup winner Browne by the Mather’s Chicane sped into first.
Boyce Precision Engineering/Russell Racing team-mate Richard Cooper then went P1 before Todd moved back to race-leader stewardship.
At the end of lap one, Todd headed Browne by 0.807 of a second, Cooper back in third was under two tenths of a second further in arrears.
On the run to university on lap two, Cooper passed Browne for second and went in search of 2022 Duke Road Race Rankings Champion Todd.
Soon after, the diminutive Cooper gobbled up the race lead.
Todd would retake the lead as lap two concluded with just under 1.4 seconds covering the top four.
Lap three wise, the leading group whilst still close together was beginning to be taken control of by Todd and Cooper.
A touch under half a second separated the Englishman as three laps remained.
Slip streaming worked a treat for Cooper on lap four, enabling him to move briefly back to P1.
With two laps to go, under 1.7 seconds covered the leading pack still topped by Todd and Ducati exotica.
Dunlop overhauled Browne for third but could he reel in Todd and Cooper?
The answer seemed most likely to be a no with one lap to run, with Cooper, Todd, 1.549 ahead.
25 times TT winner Dunlop had been usurped by Browne for P3, but all eyes were on Cooper and Todd.
The ding-dong battle ended in the favour of Todd, who celebrated with a trademark ‘stoppie’.
Third place finisher Dunlop, set the quickest lap of the race on lap six, lapping at 4 minutes 34.337 seconds.
16 plate carrier Browne was joined by Conor Cummins, Jackson Racing’s Paul Jordan in wrapping up the top six finishers.
Positions seventh to tenth went to Michael Evans, Jeremy McWilliams, Ian Hutchinson and having an upturn in fortunes, Michael Sweeney.
Marcus Simpson placed top newcomer in eleventh whilst fellow debutant AJ Venter also impressed in taking fifteenth.
NW200 – Tides Restaurant Supersport Race Result:
1st – Davey Todd
2nd – Richard Cooper
3rd – Michael Dunlop
4th – Michael Browne
5th – Conor Cummins
6th – Paul Jordan
7th – Michael Evans
8th – Jeremy McWilliams
9th – Ian Hutchinson
10th – Michael Sweeney
11th – Marcus Simpson
12th – Christian Elkin
13th – Mark Conlin
14th – Dominic Herbertson
15th – AJ Venter
16th – Barry Furber
17th- Emmet O’Grady
18th – Josh Corner
19th – Sam Johnson
20th – Don Gilbert
21st – Paul Williams
22nd – Michael Gahan
23rd – Mauro Poncini
24th – Jacque Foley
25th – Dan Ingham
26th – Lancelot Unissart
27th – Wayne Bourgeais
28th – Toby Shann
29th – Yann Galli
30th – Craig Kennelly
31st – Adrian Harrison
32nd – Gerald Dath
33rd – Darragh Trappe
34th – Rad Hughes
35th – Dennis Booth
36th – Julien Cregniot
Photo credit: Derek Wilson
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
