Superbike success for McGuinness at North West 200 Morecambe’s John McGuinness enjoyed another successful trip to the International North West 200 road races this week when he swept to victory in Saturday’s Superbike race. The Honda TT Legends rider came home over 4 seconds clear of Alastair Seeley and backed this up with a brace of thirds in the feature Superbike race and opening Supersport encounter. He also took fifth in the second Superstock and Supersport races on the Padgetts Honda’s. Having qualified on the front row for all three of his classes – Superbike, Supersport and Superstock – the week didn’t get off to the greatest of starts for John with 15th in Thursday’s wet Superstock race but with perfect weather on Saturday, he was back to his best. The day started well with a very strong third place in the opening Supersport race and although William Dunlop was away at the head of the field, John made Alastair Seeley work all race for second place. At the chequered flag, John was only a second behind the Suzuki rider and a podium was a great result for John and the Padgetts team. Next up was the opening Superbike race and having grabbed the holeshot, John and Seeley soon opened up a gap over the rest of the field. Seeley went into the lead towards the end of lap one but when he overshot Church Corner a lap later, John happily accepted the lead and with his advantage over second place as high as ten seconds at one stage, he was able to ride to his signals and control the race from the front. Comfortable in the lead on the Honda TT Legends machine, he was able to ease off in the final laps and claim another great win, his 6th around the 8.9-mile circuit. Two more excellent rides followed in the second Superstock and Supersport races and John brought the Padgetts machines home in fifth on each occasion, the Superstock result in particular a great effort and only half a second adrift of the final podium place. That left the feature Superbike race as John’s final race of the weekend and another superb start saw him lead the way on the opening lap. Local favourite Seeley wasn’t to be denied though and although there was only a second between them at half race distance, he edged away and John had a battle to keep Michael Rutter behind him for second. He squeezed by though on the fifth lap and so John had to settle for third for his third podium of the day. Speaking later, a delighted John said, “What can I say, it’s been a great day for me and, apart from the wet race on Thursday evening, I’ve finished every race inside the top 5. To take my 6th win here, and another on the Superbike, was especially pleasing and although Alastair had a bit more pace than me, it’s all about getting past the chequered flag first and that’s what I did. The bike was fantastic and when I saw ‘+10′ on my pitboard I knew that all I had to do was bring the bike home – if someone could take that amount of time out of me in the final two laps, I think I’d have to hang my leathers up!” “I tried as hard as I could in the second Superbike race but Alastair and Michael just had that bit extra and I had to settle for third. If someone had offered me a win and a third in the Superbike races before I came here I’d have readily taken them so I’m very happy. Likewise the Supersport races and the third place in the opening race was one of my best rides on a 600cc machine. Alastair’s a lot smaller than me so more suited to the Supersport bikes but I kept him honest throughout and it was very satisfying to run at the same pace as him. I’ve throughly enjoyed my racing today and I’m really happy with how all of the bikes are performing so it’s set me up nicely for the TT and I’m looking forward to getting over to the Island and giving it my best shot once more. I’d love to get another win there but what will be will be and I’ll just look at doing my best and having a good, safe fortnight.” John now heads to the Isle of Man TT Races where he’ll be hoping to add to his haul of 17 wins. Practice around the 37.73-mile course gets underway on Monday 28th May. More, from a press release issued by Bournemouth Kawasaki Pr1mo Racing: Brilliant North West 200 podium for Hillier James Hillier completed a brilliant week’s racing at the International North West 200 road races on Saturday with a superb third place in the Superstock race. It was the debut podium for the Bournemouth Kawasaki Pr1mo Racing rider around the 8.9-mile public road course and he backed this up with more high class results, 6th and 8th, in the two Superbike races. Saturday saw perfect weather around the course, which links the towns of Portstewart, Portrush and Coleraine and, hot on the heels of his two top six finishes on Thursday, James was eagerly looking forward to more of the same. The day got off to an inauspicious start though with retirement in the opening Supersport race but he bounced back well to take eighth in the first Superbike race. A good start saw James end the first lap in fifth place on the ZX-10R Kawasaki as he battled with Conor Cummins, Ian Hutchinson and Gary Johnson and although he had to give way to Cummins and a flying Cameron Donald, who ended the race in third, a top eight finish and near 120mph lap was a superb result. However, his best race, and ride, of the day came in the following 6-lap Superstock race and at the end of the first lap, he led an International road race for the first time with Ryan Farquhar, Alastair Seeley and John McGuinness in hot pursuit. They were all having to give best though to Michael Rutter who had started in the second wave and it was he who led on corrected time. At half race distance, Rutter was pulling clear whilst James was embroiled in a frantic battle with Farquhar, Seeley and McGuinness. The latter was keeping a watching brief in fifth but the other three were exchanging places all the time and it all came down to a last lap sort out. James squeezed by Farquhar on the 200mph run into University Corner and he was able to hold him off for the remainder of the lap to claim a fantastic third place behind Rutter and Seeley. The 600cc machine was unable to be repaired in time for the second Supersport race so that just left the feature Superbike race although James’ race was compromised on the first lap when Gary Johnson, Cummins and Martin Jessopp crashed in front of him at the Mather’s Cross chicane, dropping him down the order to 11th. A lap later though he was up to eighth and by lap four he was up to sixth having overtaken both Hutchinson and Farquhar. The time lost meant he was unable to climb any higher but the sixth place result meant that all five of his finishes for the week were inside the top eight. Speaking afterwards, a delighted James said; “It’s been a great week’s racing for me and I’m over the moon to have taken my first podium today. The Superstock race was a lot of fun and although it was pretty close out there at times, I really enjoyed myself. I’d been struggling all week along the coast road but I learnt an awful lot racing with Alastair and Ryan so I was able to run with them. My bike was flying along the straights but the pair of them were very good on the brakes so it was a fight all the way until the end. Although Rutter wasn’t with us on the road I was getting good signals and knew he was ahead of us on time and that I had to finish second in my group to get on the podium. I made the pass on Ryan stick on the last lap and with what I’d learnt I could keep him at bay along the coast road.” “The bike worked really well and it was good to back up the podium with two strong rides in the Superbike races. The crash in the second race held me up and I lost a lot of time so lost the tow to the group in front of me but I kept plugging away and sixth was a good result to end with. Unfortunately, we had a few problems with the 600cc machine but, apart from that, it’s been a great week. The team have worked brilliantly and we’ve been on the pace in all classes and proved that we’re a match for anyone else out there so I really can’t wait now for the TT.” James now heads to the Isle of Man TT Races with practice getting underway next Saturday whilst team-mate Chris Walker will be back in British Superbike action at Snetterton on the same weekend. More, from a press release issued by Splitlath Redmond: THE Splitlath Redmond team is deeply saddened by the news that Mark Buckley has lost his life at the International North West 200 today. Mark, 35, died in hospital following an accident during this afternoon’s Superstock race. Mark joined the team last month to contest the Isle of Man TT and other road races. An experienced road racer, the North West 200 was one of his favourite events on the calendar. Mark was a rider who always had a smile on his face and although he was new to the Splitlath Redmond outfit, he had already made a lot of friends within the team. He was a man who was always positive, with an infectious sense of humour and a rider who cared deeply about his colleagues and others. Mark will be missed by everyone at Splitlath Redmond and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Jayne, his family and friends. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Tyco Suzuki’s Alastair Seeley has raced to a hat-trick of victories at the International North West 200 Road Race in Northern Ireland. The Ulsterman claimed his third win of the week in the final Blue Ribband Superbike event this afternoon aboard his GSX-R1000 to add to his Supersport 600 and Superstock wins he grabbed earlier today and also on Thursday evening. Seeley joined an elite of only a handful of riders to claim a triple-win at the major Northern Ireland event and came within a 10th-of-a-second of breaking the outright lap record on the final sixth lap of today’s Superbike race. Said Seeley: “It’s nice to do it again and I didn’t think I’d get it. It was real close in the first three laps, but I managed to make the break. We knew we could pull away on the Superbike – after I made a mistake in the first race and had to come back from 14th to second – but this is a dream come true.”