Seeley succeeds at rain hit NW200
Added on Monday, May 23rd, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Seeley succeeds at rain hit NW200
Alastair Seeley was the only race winner at a rain affected North West 200, securing victory in the International Supersport race before the meeting was abandoned.
After starting from pole, Seeley finished 0.844 seconds ahead of Cameron Donald in the first Supersport race of the meeting and was on course for a strong result in the Superbike event, only for it to be abandoned on safety grounds.
Seeley came from the third row of the grid in the second race of the day, again in soaking-wet conditions, to lead at the end of lap one. Unfortunately for the riders and the fans, the race was red-flagged on lap two when another rider’s engine expired, leaving a massive oil spill on the Coast Road from Church Corner to Juniper Hill chicane. Despite a lengthy delay and the best attention from the organisers, the meeting was abandoned on safety grounds.
Seeley was nevertheless delighted with his performances, with the experience boosting his confidence in wet conditions.
“That’s an International Road Racing victory to add to the British Supersport win at Brands for the new GSX-R600,” he claimed. “It was a great race to be involved in and even more pleasing to beat what is basically a World Supersport specification Honda. I knew I would be stronger into the chicanes despite Cameron using traction control on his bike, as the brakes on the new GSX-R600 are one of its best features and that gave me a lot of confidence in the wet.
“In the Superbike race, the plan was the pick them off and get into the lead so I wouldn’t have to sit in anyone’s spray. The speed of my GSX-R1000 was far superior to Ryan and Michael’s bikes and the way it was set-up, I was actually enjoying it spinning up down the big straights in the wet. I was ready to pull the pin and just ride my own race, so it was disappointing to see a red flag on lap two. I really felt like I was in control this week in all classes and having felt so comfortable in the wet I think we’d have been hard to beat. That five of McCallen’s was definitely a big target.”
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