Alastair Seeley made it two wins from two at the North West 200 on Thursday evening with a commanding start to finish victory in the Superstock race, the IFS Yamaha rider coming home almost 13s ahead of Davey Todd (Milenco by Padgetts Honda) with Richard Cooper taking a strong third on the Hawk Racing Suzuki.
With the wet and cold conditions continuing, pole man Glenn Irwin was a non-starter as were Honda team-mate John McGuinness, Michael Dunlop, James Hillier and Lee Johnston but it was Seeley who led off the line from Todd, Cooper and Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW).
Just like the Supersport race, Todd nosed ahead of Seeley on the run to University but the Carrickfergus rider was soon back in the lead and his advantage was 1.9s as he crossed the line to start lap two, Cooper a further second back in third. Conor Cummins, Dean Harrison and Hickman completed the top six but the latter immediately pulled in to retire.
Second time around and Seeley was romping clear, his lead over Todd now up to four seconds and the latter had his hands full with former National Superstock champion Cooper all over his back wheel. Those three were almost twenty seconds clear of fourth placed Cummins with Michael Rutter now in fifth and Ian Hutchinson sixth.
Harrison was another retirement and it was Carl Phillips who was now in sixth from Mike Booth, Marty Lennon and 2019 Supertwins race winner Italian Stefano Bonetti.
Back at the front of a somewhat depleted field, Seeley added another second to his lead on lap three but Cooper, whilst still third, had dropped more than seven seconds back of Todd after running on at one of the chicanes. Cummins, Rutter and Hutchinson remained in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
Starting the fifth of six laps, Seeley had extended his lead over Todd to a commanding 9.2s with Cooper still seven seconds back in third. Indeed, the gaps between all the riders were considerable with the field spread out, over a minute covering leader Seeley to new sixth placed rider Lennon.
Going into the sixth and final lap, Seeley’s lead was in excess of 13s and he eventually crossed the line at the end of the six laps to take his 26th victory by some 12.8s from Todd with Cooper six seconds further back in third for his second NW200 podium.
The battle for fourth went all the way to the end and it was Cummins who came out on top from Rutter with Ulsterman Lennon having a superb ride into sixth on the ML Designs Yamaha. Phillips, Hutchinson, Booth and Bonetti completed the top ten.
