Alastair Seeley took a record-breaking 16th victory at the North West 200 when he won the opening race of the 2016 race programme, Thursday evening's Supersport race. Riding the Gearlink Kawasaki, Seeley was involved in a terrific eight-rider dice for much of the race but pulled away in the final lap and a half to get the better of Ian Hutchinson (CAME BPT Yamaha) and Martin Jessopp (Riders Motorcycles Triumph).
"It's a dream come true, as a boy I dreamnt about fantastic things like this," said Seeley afterwards. "To be mentioned in the same sentence as the Dunlops is overwhelming. I dropped to fifth mid-race, reprogrammed my brain and once I got a clear track I felt comfortable. I hit all my markers, got back in the lead, held a defensive line into Juniper and along the coast road to take the win."
There was drama at the start when late changes to his Yamaha saw him run out of time and Michael Dunlop was pulled off the line but there were no such problems for the rest of the field and it was Jessopp who grabbed the holeshot from Seeley and Lee Johnston. The opening lap set the trend for the race though as the lead changed hands frequently with Jessopp and Seeley taking it in turns.
Seeley led across the line from Jessopp, Johnston, James Hillier and Hutchinson but Johnston hit the front at Station only for Seeley to re-take the lead at University. By the end of the lap just four seconds covered the top ten as Seeley again crossed the line first.
Hutchinson was beginning to make his move though and on lap three he took the lead for the first time, diving up the inside at Metropole. His advantage over Jessopp though was only 0.03s at the end of the lap as a freight train again lined up behind him. Dean Harrison and Bruce Anstey were also on the move and were on the edge of the top six.
Lap four and Seeley was ahead once more at Magherabuoy with Hutchinson reclaiming the lead, once more at the Metropole. Only 2.7s covered the top eight as Michael Rutter and John McGuinness lost touch slightly from the leading group.
On the penultimate lap, Seeley did what we've all become accustomed to and started to pull away, so his lead going into the final lap was the biggest it had been all race. Try as he might Hutchinson, who later said the set-up wasn't to his liking after missing all of the morning's practice session, was unable to make any ground and in the end Seeley took the win by 1.2s. Jessopp took third for his first ever NW200 podium with William Dunlop and Harrison in fourth and fifth. Johnston, Hillier, McGuinness and Rutter followed him home as Anstey slipped back to tenth on the final lap.
Seeley also set a new lap record of 117.835mph.
