Alastair Seeley secured his second win of the opening day’s racing at the North West 200 with a narrow victory ahead of Bruce Anstey in the Superstock class. Seeley went in as favourite after his stunning Supersport success earlier in the day but it was far from comfortable despite starting from pole.
There were many concerns for the riders to deal with before the start with the track rapidly drying after the early rain had given way to glorious sunshine, making tyre choice tricky. The improved conditions presented another problem though with the low sun causing visibility problems with some riders concerned at being unable to see any damp patches on the road during the formation lap.
After overcoming early leaders Gary Johnson and Bruce Anstey, the task for Seeley was to fend off the New Zealander in the closing stages which the “Wee Wizard” did by just 0.296s despite coming up on traffic at Juniper on the last lap. Johnson eventually fell sixteen seconds back in third with Guy Martin just missing out on a second podium of the evening in fourth.
Derek Sheils took a fine fifth for CD Racing with Conor Cummins sixth on the Milwaukee Yamaha, making up in some way for a difficult Supersport race where the Manxman admitted to making the wrong tyre choice. Josh Brookes marked his North West 200 debut with seventh after starting in the second group while Michael Rutter, James Hillier and Jamie Hamilton completed the top ten.
