NW200: False neutral almost costs Seeley Superstock win

Tyco BMW’s Alastair Seeley dominated yesterday’s opening Superstock race at the 2017 Vauxhall International North West 200, but the local rider came close to losing out after a false neutral on the second lap.

Running on, Seeley thought he’d have to make a U-turn and lose valuable time to his rivals but ran up the grass and over a footpath to re-join having lost just a place to Bathams SMT BMW rider Michael Rutter.

Rejoining the race, Seeley began to hunt down his rival but when Rutter was ruled out with a technical issue on lap three, the Ulsterman inherited a healthy lead.

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Not one to be handed victory, Seeley kept the hammer down and recorded the quickest ever Superstock lap on the fourth lap before then managing his lead over the battle for second place between Lee Johnston and Dean Harrison.

“I hit a false neutral on lap two at the roundabout after I got into the lead and had to run up over the grass and on to a footpath,” he said. “I had to work my way back to the front and thought I’d better not do anything silly on the last lap.

“Hopefully we can continue this form on Saturday for the massive crowds who are around the circuit.”

It wasn’t all good for Seeley on Thursday however, starting from pole in the Supersport race the Gearlink Kawasaki rider would retire on the second lap after his machine started losing power. 

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