Seeley becomes most successful racer in North West 200 history

Alastair Seeley became the most successful racer in the history of the North West 200 this week as he clocked up a record 16^th victory around the Triangle circuit.

The Ulsterman had matched the previous record of 15 wins, held by Robert Dunlop, at last year’s event but went one better as this year’s event got underway on Thursday evening.

Victory in the opening Supersport race was enough to seal the record, but it wasn’t easy for the 36-year-old who was engrossed in a race-long, six-bike scrap for the lead. Managing to pull a slight gap on his rivals during the final lap, Seeley crossed the line to take the win by 1.2 seconds over Ian Hutchinson and Martin Jessopp.

He then went on to extend the record after taking his second victory of the week in Saturday’s Supersport outing and looked set to add at least one more in the Superstock race until a mistake at Metropole saw him lose out to Ian Hutchinson and Peter Hickman.

A brake issue put pay to any hopes of winning the superbike race before the remainder of the day’s racing was cancelled following the tragic death of Malachi Mitchell-Thomas.

“Taking the record is pretty special,” Seeley told MCN. “It didn’t sink in on Thursday night when it happened, it was more Friday morning when I was reading social media and seeing all the congratulations.

“It’s taken a lot of hard work and dedication to get there. I didn’t arrive here thinking I had it in the bank, I’ve studied and watched other riders and even in the races I was still analysing and studying positions on track and people’s machinery, where I was strong, where I was weak and then where others were strong and weak. It takes a lot to actually win round here but you also need a lot of luck and I think I’ve had my fair share.”

For more on this year’s North West 200, see Wednesday’s MCN.