NW200: Seeley under lap record to take Superstock pole

Alastair Seeley will start this evening’s opening Superstock 1000 race at the 2017 Vauxhall international North West 200 after blitzing the lap record in Thursday’s qualifying.

Riding in a one-off appearance for the Tyco BMW team, Seeley’s time of 4’22.104 (123.203mph) is a second clear of Hutchinson’s lap record and less than a second off the outright circuit record set by Michael Dunlop on a full-spec Superbike.

North West 200 veteran Michael Rutter will start second, with Lee Johnston completing an all-BMW front row on the East Coast Racing machine.

Last year’s winner Ian Hutchinson will start fourth with Dean Harrison, the first non-BMW machine, in fifth. Martin Jessopp completes the top six for Riders Motorcycles BMW.

Michael Dunlop heads up row three on the MD Racing GSX-R1000, ahead of James Hillier and Horst Saiger. William Dunlop completes the top ten.

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It was a disastrous session for Honda Racing’s Guy Martin, who clipped a barrier after running on at the Magherabouy chicane on the opening lap of the session. Dropping the machine at slow speed as he tried to regain balance, he was forbidden to re-join the session under no-restart rules. He’ll start this evening’s race from a lowly 16^th position with his time set on Tuesday. 

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