NW200: Johnston breaks Seeley stranglehold
Fermanagh's Lee Johnston made a breakthrough to secure his maiden victory in the Superstock class at the North West 200 on Saturday, halting Alastair Seeley's victory streak.
Johnston, who clinched a double in last year's Supertwins races at the North West, forced his way past Tyco BMW rider Alastair Seeley on the final lap to clinch a popular victory.
Seeley had led into Metropole on the final lap but Johnston refused to give in and squeezed ahead on the Coast Road on his ECC/Burdens BMW, holding on to win by only 0.1 seconds.
Ian Hutchinson continued to impress on the PBM Kawasaki as the rejuvenated Yorkshire rider fended off a challenge from Michael Dunlop (MD Racing Yamaha) to seal the final place on the podium.
The Bingley rider set a new lap record of 121.680mph as the top three all bettered Austrian Horst Saiger's previous benchmark in a red-hot race.
A delighted Johnston said: "Alastair got me down into Metropole but I got a good run out of Black Hill and I just made it on the brakes into Juniper.
"I gave up the Supertwin to focus on the big bikes so I'd have looked pretty stupid if I didn't get a result."
William Dunlop took fifth on the Tyco BMW behind his brother Michael, with Martin Jessopp a close sixth on the Riders Motorcycles BMW.
Quattro Plant Kawasaki's James Hillier came out on top of his battle with Scotsman Keith Amor for seventh, with Conor Cummins (Jackson Honda) and David Johnston (BMW) completing the top ten.
