Michael Rutter won a thrilling Superstock race at the North West 200, coming through from the second wave to get the better of Alastair Seeley and James Hillier on corrected time. Seeley, Hillier, Ryan Farquhar and John McGuinness went toe to toe at the head of the field throughout the six laps but Rutter, who started from the front row of the second wave, fully utilised the clear track in front of him and aided by a new lap record of 120.153mph, he romped home almost seven seconds clear.
"I tried my hardest from start to finish and the bike was brilliant," said Rutter, whose win was his 13th in total around the Triangle and equals the total of Joey Dunlop. "I felt good so just got my head down and didn't make any mistakes and it all went perfectly. I got held up by a couple of riders at the back of the first wave but it didn't really cost me any time so I can't complain can?"
There was never more than a couple of seconds between Seeley, Hillier, Farquhar, McGuinness and Cameron Donald with Bruce Anstey running with them in the early stages before overshooting at Juniper Chicane but all the time Rutter was overhauling them. Fourth at the end of the first lap, his lead was up to 0.6s at the end of the second lap and although it hovered around that mark for the next couple of laps, he really upped the ante on lap five and his lead shot up to five seconds.
Seeley, Hillier and McGuinness were swapping positions, and paint, at all of the chicanes and all four of them were in with a shout of second although it was perhaps this constant exchange of places that allowed Rutter to edge clear. Seeley secured second at York Corner on the final lap with Hillier overhauling Farquhar on the run to University, his Kawasaki clearly the quicker of the three. He was able to hold off Farquhar along the coast road for the final time and he took his first ever NW200 podium, 1.5s behind Seeley and just 0.3s ahead of Farquhar. McGuinness wasn't quite close enough to make a pass but held on for fifth just ahead of team-mate Anstey who regrouped well and got the better of a fading Donald.
Conor Cummins, who also started from the second wave, took eighth with Stephen Thompson in ninth and newcomer Horst Saiger putting in a brilliant ride for tenth.
