Alastair Seeley equalled Robert Dunlop’s record of 15 North West 200 wins when he came from fourth place on the opening lap to win the first Superbike race from Ian Hutchinson and Bruce Anstey with less than a second covering the trio at the chequered flag.
Seeley led off the line but firstly Hutchinson and then Lee Johnston overhauled him with Bruce Anstey doing the same along the coast road and at the end of the first lap it was the PBM Kawasaki of Hutchinson that led. Michael Rutter and John McGuinness were right on their tail in fifth and sixth.
Hutchinson had a slight moment on the second lap when his foot slipped off the peg at close to 200mph on the run to University but he was extremely strong on the brakes and led Anstey, Rutter and Seeely across the line at the end of lap two. Johnston had overshot the Mathers Cross chicane but stopped and rejoined without gaining a time penalty.
Lap three saw Gary Johnson, Conor Cummins and Dean Harrison all retire but at the head of the field Hutchinson still led with less than two seconds separating the top six. Seeley had worked his way back up to second with Anstey, Johnston, Rutter and McGuinness crossing the line in that order.
Hutchinson and Seeley exchanged the lead on the fourth lap but the PBM rider was in determined mood and again got the better of Seeley on the brakes. Indeed, Johnston did the same and he crossed the line in second as they went on to the fifth and final lap.
It looked like Hutchy would take a dream win but Seeley wasn’t to be denied and he edged ahead going into the Magherabuoy chicane and his exit speed was enough to allow him to open up a slight gap. Try as he might Hutchinson couldn’t close the gap on the final run along the coast road and Seeley crossed the line just ahead of Hutchinson and Anstey with 0.5s covering the trio.
Johnston held off Rutter for fourth with Honda’s McGuinness in sixth. The two Tyco BMW’s of William Dunlop and Guy Martin were some way adrift in seventh and eighth as newcomer David Johnson enjoyed an excellent ride for ninth with Keith Amor completing the top ten.
Michael Dunlop was another early retirement on the Milwaukee Yamaha.
