Calm approach pays off for Hutchinson

Ian Hutchinson took a calculated victory in Saturday’s North West 200 Superstock race, holding off Peter Hickman and Alastair Seeley after a race-long scrap for the lead.

Hutchinson was in the mix in the early stages of both the original race and the restart and looked as if he’d leave his rivals for dust after blasting past on station road, clocking up a top speed of 204.7mph.

However, the Yorkshireman was soon chased down by Michael Dunlop, Peter Hickman and Alastair Seeley. The latter two gave the Tyco BMW star a run for his money on the final two laps, until a mistake from Seeley at Metropole ruled him out of contention for the win.

Hutchinson crossed the line to take victory just 0.6 seconds ahead of Hickman with Seeley third.

“I stayed calm, dropped back and watched what everyone was doing,” he said after the race. “Going into the second to last lap I thought I was in a good place and then the last lap just worked perfect. This has made my day and hopefully the team’s.

I knew it was going to be fast with the conditions being so good, but I had to become a mathematician. I was able to ride flat in top through Station [Corner] and that helped me get the run on the others. The Tyco BMW team has done an amazing job putting good bikes under me. I’m delighted.”