Super Seeley does the double at the NW200

The 30-year-old Relentless Suzuki rider had the 100,000 strong crowd on their feet cheering and applauding as he swept into the lead past Swan Honda rider Stuart Easton at Church corner on the last lap of the Greenline race to take a long-awaited victory for a Northern Ireland rider. At the chequered flag, the hero on the day had just over a second to spare over Easton, with John McGuiness third on the HM Plant Honda.

Seeley had earlier won a spectacular Clinton Enterprises supersport race which saw no fewer than eight riders all looking for the same piece of road. The East Antrim rider was down in eighth place at the end of lap one after starting from row three, but when it mattered, at the Juniper chicane, Alastair dived between Ian Hutchinson and Keith Amor to take the lead which he held to the flag. Hutchinson held on to second and Michael Dunlop pipped Amor for third.

"To do the double was great and to especially win the superbike race was something special,” said Seeley.

“The supersport race was a good win as I had to work really hard for it, whereas in the superbike race it was a more controlled race. I could not enjoy the win as much as I should have as I had to stay focused on the next supersport race.

“It was great to hear the crowds cheering and the team celebrating when I got off the bike and I suppose when I have time to reflect on the NW200 I will realise just how special the day has been. It was good to put a smile on my mechanic Lee’s face who has worked hard all season.

“As it is, I have to focus on the next round of the British Superbike championship at Cadwell Park this weekend and hopefully rack up some more good results,” Alastair added.

The opening ‘Yoko’ superbike race saw McGuinness fly the HM Plant flag high as he took his fifth NW200 victory. It was all the more special for the team as the pre-race favourite and pole-setter Steve Plater had crashed out of the meeting, breaking his left arm in a high-speed accident at Quarry Hill on Thursday’s qualifying.

Connor Cummings on the McAdoo Kawasaki pushed McGuinness all the way with Keith Amor on the Kojak Racing BMW not far behind, but it was Seeley who was making inroads on the leaders at a great rate of knots. The Suzuki man had put on full slicks at the start of the race compared to the rest of the frontrunners who were on cut slicks. As the roads really dried out Seeley was lapping two seconds faster than anyone else, but he ran out of laps to really challenge the leader. At the flag, less than half a second covered the first three of McGuinness, Cummings and Seeley.

There was an emotional win in the McKendry Fabrications 125 race when Paul Robinson, son of the late Mervyn, who lost his life at the NW200 30 years ago, took a well-deserved victory after early leader William Dunlop retired on lap two with a broken gear box.

In the CP Hire super stock race it was a debut win for Falkirk rider Keith Amor over Ian Hutchinson by 0.2 of a second, with Ryan Farquhar third and the winner for the past two years, Alastair Seeley, fourth.

The Ballymoney Council supersport race brought this year’s event to an excellent conclusion which saw Ian Hutchinson take his second NW 200 success.

Riding the Padgetts Honda, the English rider was at the front throughout, with Amor leading the pursuers. Although Amor had the fastest lap he could not live with the winner, who was over three seconds ahead at the flag.

Rea is back on the podium in Africa

After a tough qualifying, which saw Larne’s Jonathan Rea well down the grid, he produced two outstanding rides in Sunday’s sixth round of the 2010 World Superbike championship races at Kyalami in South Africa to take fifth and second place finishes. The two races were won by Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio and Suzuki’s Leon Haslam.

”I got a good start in the first race, but just couldn’t hold the other guys as I didn’t find any grip,” said Jonathan.

”We made a small change for race two and then I got a blinding start. From there I found it easy to go to the front but it was really difficult to make a break. In the end, Haslam made a lunge and I had to settle for second.

“All in all, I would have taken your arm off if you’d offered me those results this morning and I’d like to thank the team for keeping my spirits up. It wasn’t looking too clever after warm-up. I’m really looking forward to Salt Lake City now that we’re back on the podium.”

Laverty closes gap in world supersport title race

Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene Laverty closed the gap in the championship to one point after he scored his first hat-trick of wins when he won the sixth round of the World Supersport Championship at Kyalami in South Africa, leading from the first lap to the chequered flag, making it four wins out of six starts this season.

Eugene said: “Kenan kept me honest for the first half of the race, but my Parkalgar Honda was very good and was managing the tyre well so I was able to push and go for a break in the second half. I think at the same time Kenan’s tyre was starting to wear which helped. This is my first ever three wins on the trot in any Championship and it has been a long time coming. It’s nice to leave here almost leading the Championship, it is all to play for now in the second half of the season.”

Barr leads Red Bull championship

Martin Barr now leads the Red Bull Pro National championship after two brilliant wins at last weekend’s meeting at Canada Heights, Kent.

Going into the meeting he was trailing Elliot Banks Brown by two points, but after his two victories in the MX2 class on the PAR Honda he now has a six-point advantage over Brown.

"It was a good meeting for me. I qualified fastest and in race one took the flag with 30 seconds to spare,” said Martin.

“In race two I had another faultless ride to finish 12 seconds clear of Brown. Things are going well at the minute and with the next round of the British championship on June 13 at Lyng I am looking forward to continue the trend,” he added.