By Alastair Seeley clocked up a 19th North West 200 victory today, following success in a quite frantic and drama filled Supersport race.
Making up for the disappointment of retiring from the opening 600 encounter on Thursday evening, the “Wee Wizard” lead throughout, before pulling the pin on lap 5 breaking clear of the chasing pack.
Photo by Tommy Vennard
At the end of the six lap race, held in damp then further deteriorating wet conditions, his gap at the front on the Gearlink Kawasaki stood at in excess of four seconds.
William Dunlop finished a great second, producing a top draw display on the IC Racing/Caffrey International YZF R6 Yamaha.
Stating after the race his delight at securing his first North West podium finish since 2014, he couldn’t thank his team enough for all their hard work in helping results like this happen.
Brother Michael Dunlop aboard his own teams Yamaha wrapped up the final spot on the podium, despite having an obvious top end speed disadvantage on the straight’s.
Adam McLean was extremely impressive in finishing a fine fourth, a quite brilliant result for the MSS/Hotties backed rider, tipped by many to in the near future become a multiple times international road race winner.
Ian Hutchinson (MCaMS Yamaha) fifth, in contention through the opening laps for race victory, eased his pace off once track conditions got worse.
JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Hillier was a solid sixth, whilst Radcliffe’s Racing’s Jamie Coward impressed finishing a more than creditable seventh.
Peter Hickman was eighth on the TROOPER backed Triumph, race 1 winner Martin Jessopp occupied ninth place as McAdoo Kawasaki’s James Cowton finalised the top ten.
Added notable rides included Craig Neve 14th, Darryl Tweed 16th and newcomer Mark Purslow (ECTA Racing) finishing a very respectable 18th.
Notable non finishers included Lee Johnston following an incident on lap 3 with Adam McLean, Bruce Anstey retired on lap four, whilst Guy Martin’s sole race today on the coast roads, yielded him a 23rd place finish.
Vauxhall International North West 200 – Supersport Race 2 Results:
1 Alastair Seeley
2 William Dunlop
3 Michael Dunlop
4 Adam McLean
5 Ian Hutchinson
6 James Hillier
7 Jamie Coward
8 Peter Hickman
9 Martin Jessopp
10 James Cowton
11 Horst Saiger
12 Daley Mathison
13 Dan Cooper
14 Craig Neve
15 Christian Elkin
16 Darryl Tweed
17 Dan Hegarty
18 Mark Purslow
19 Frederic Besnard
20 Xavier Denis
21 Joey Den Besten
22 Kris Duncan
23 Guy Martin
24 Callum Laidlaw
25 Paul Cranston
Words by Stevie Rial
