After dominating practice for the 2015 Vauxhall North West 200, Alastair Seeley won the opening EventServ Supersport race in front of huge crowds on his Tyco Suzuki, making it 13 wins which equals the records of Joey Dunlop and Michael Rutter.

The Carrickfergus rider set a new 600cc lap record of 117.077mph as he beat off challenges from North West newcomer Glenn Irwin on the Gearlink Kawasaki and Michael Dunlop on the MD Racing Yamaha to take the victory. And all with a new rear Metzeler he was testing.

“Some people don’t rate the Suzuki but I like it. It was a close race and Glenn was putting me under a bit of pressure there – and fair play to him on being up there with us on his first time around here! I’m sure he’s learned a fair bit sitting in there too. Track knowledge and experience did it for me though – Glenn was using the entire road,” said Seeley.

“To be fair, everything worked really well. The Metzeler tyres were good and we weren’t sliding much – we’re testing a new tyre this week and I’m really happy with it.

“I was able to come out of places like Metropole, spin it and hook it first, the thing was so stable. That meant in places like the chicanes and on the Coast Road we were able to just pull out a little bit every time.”