By A moment of pure road racing history was witnessed today at the Vauxhall International North West 200, as Alastair Seeley became the most successful rider in North West 200 history, by winning a thrilling opening supersport race.
In a race long duel between a group of eight riders, Alastair in the closing laps, pulled away on the Gearlink Kawasaki, to clinch race victory in the end by 1.29 seconds over Ian Hutchinson on the Came BPT YZF R6 Yamaha.
Photo by Rod Neill
Hutchy’s second place finish, is made all the more impressive, given that he started down in twelfth on the grid.
Martin Jessopp wrapped up his first podium finish around the Triangle, as he completed the podium finishers.
William Dunlop battled away to finish fourth on his own teams YZF R6 Yamaha, whilst Dean Harrison, Silicone Engineering ZX6R Kawasaki, impressed on his to a joint personal best North West 200 finish of fifth.
Lee Johnston finalised the top six finishers, James Hillier was a more than creditable seventh, John McGuinness produced a highly accomplished display to finish eighth on the Jackson Racing CBR 600 Honda.
The top ten was concluded by Michael Rutter Bathams SMT Racing ZX6R Kawasaki and Bruce Anstey, Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Motorcycles CBR 600 Honda.
Malachi Mitchell Thomas continued his sparkling 2016 roads form, by finishing an impressive eleventh, on Cookstown BE Racing’s CBR 600 Honda.
Race Results:
1 Alastair Seeley
2 Ian Hutchinson
3 Martin Jessopp
4 William Dunlop
5 Dean Harrison
6 Lee Johnston
7 James Hillier
8 John McGuinness
9 Michael Rutter
10 Bruce Anstey
11 Malachi Mitchell Thomas
12 Peter Hickman
13 Paul Jordan
14 Dan Cooper
15 Ivan Lintin
16 Marek Cerveny
17 Christian Elkin
18 James Cowton
19 Horst Saiger
20 Sam West
Words by Stevie Rial
