North West 200: Glenn Irwin claims Superbike double as Alastair Seeley wraps up treble

Glenn Irwin battled past Davey Todd in an enthralling first Superbike race

Glenn Irwin has won six consecutive Superbike races after claiming a double victory at the North West 200.

The Honda rider held off Davey Todd to win a blistering first Superbike race and dominated a depleted final race.

Earlier, Lee Johnston claimed a popular Supersport win from 11th on the grid and Alastair Seeley won the Superstock race - his 27th North West 200 victory.

Richard Cooper lost his two Supertwin victories after being excluded for a technical infringement.

Pierre Yves Bian has been promoted to the top step of the podium for race one while Joe Loughlin has been declared the winner of race two.

• Cooper loses NW200 wins after disqualification

• Saturday's racing at the North West 200 as it happened

The start of the feature North West 200 Superbike race was hit by the news that the Dunlop tyre company had advised riders using its rubber should withdraw due to "a fault" in a batch of its Superbike-spec slick tyres.

That forced the impressive Todd, Michael Dunlop, Peter Hickman and Dean Harrison to watch from the sidelines as a depleted grid took to the start.

From the start Irwin led a gaggle of nine riders at the end of the first lap, with Cooper his nearest challenger one second back despite the Honda rider having a big snap coming out of the final corner.

However the 32-year-old settled and extended his advantage over Cooper's Suzuki by 2.3 seconds by the end of the third lap, with Brookes in third.

Behind, James Hillier led a squabble for fourth ahead of John McGuinness and Michael Rutter - who weren't holding back despite having a combined age of 100.

The PBM Ducati of Brookes ran deep into University was able to maintain his podium place, but up front Irwin was able to ease off through the final few corners to win by 2.4 seconds over Cooper.

Behind the podium trio, Ian Hutchinson was fourth for Milwaukee BMW while McGuinness was fifth ahead of Hillier, who was penalised 10 seconds for cutting the Juniper Hill chicane, and Rutter.

It was an anti-climactic end to a superb day of racing but it was a successful return for the road race following a two-year absence due to Covid-19.

Irwin battles to Superbike win

Starting from pole position for the first Superbike race earlier on Saturday, Irwin grabbed the lead into York ahead of Todd. The BMW of Hickman ran deep into University on the first lap as Irwin led Todd over the line by 0.361 seconds at the end of the first lap.

Todd continued to shadow Irwin throughout the second lap with Cooper and Harrison behind in a distant podium battle.

The Padgetts man moved to the front after Irwin, on the factory Honda, ran deep into York corner at the start of the third lap but the local favourite hit back on the run down to University.

The 27-year-old and Irwin ran side-by-side into Metropole as their battle continued, with Cooper in hot pursuit after shaking off Harrison, and the leading trio were separated by just 1.3 seconds heading into the fourth lap.

Glenn Irwin celebrates winning the first Superbike race with his son, Freddie, and daughter, Gia

Irwin slipstreamed past Todd on the run to University and set a new lap record but the 32-year-old couldn't shake off the impressive Todd heading onto the penultimate lap.

The challenger moved into the lead at University, but Irwin responded with a move into Mather's Cross and held the lead across the line.

Todd hit the front again in the Magherabuoy chicane with a block pass on Irwin, but the British Superbike front-runner powered side-by-side and re-took the lead on the exit of Metropole before holding off Todd by 0.253 seconds to take the chequered flag.

Cooper dropped away to finish third ahead of the distant PBM Ducati of Brookes, Seeley's IFS Yamaha and Hillier.

Hickman was forced to retire on the fourth lap but not before setting a blistering lap record of 4:18.753, an average speed of 124.799 mph, while Harrison and Dunlop also failed to finish.

Todd stars as Seeley wins race of attrition

In complete contrast to Thursday's Superstock race, which Seeley dominated in wet conditions, the penultimate race of the event was under the glistening sun on the north coast.

Polesitter Irwin went for the lead after a steady start but ran wide into York, which allowed Seeley to hit the front as the Honda man dropped to fourth.

Irwin went straight on at University and Todd ended up on the grass after running wide at the same corner, which set up a battle between Seeley and Michael Dunlop

Davey Todd was one of the riders of the meeting with three second-place finishes

Johnston also ended up on the grass at University on lap two as he led the gaggle of riders who were chasing the leading pair, and Dunlop made a move on Seeley at Mather's Cross but the record wins holder hit back going into Juniper.

Dunlop slipstreamed into the lead but dropped back after becoming the fourth rider to run on at University before eventually retiring as Todd, who was down in 11th after his first-lap excursion into a ditch, replaced the 19-time Isle of Man TT winner as Seeley's nearest challenger.

However the Englishman started to struggle with his tyres in the hot conditions and dropped back to third behind Johnston and Harrison, and Seeley was able take his 27th North West 200 victory.

Todd stopped on the final lap as Michael Sweeney claimed fourth ahead of McGuinness, who picked up his joint-best finish of the week in fifth.

Cooper disqualified after taking impressive victories

In the opening Supertwin race, rescheduled from Thursday night, Cooper looked to have collected his maiden North West 200 victory in dominant fashion.

The fastest newcomer from 2019 stormed into an eight-second lead by the end of lap two and raced clear of a keenly-fought battle for second.

Frenchman Pierre Yvan Bian came out on top ahead of local rider Paul Jordan, while behind Johnston battled past Jeremy McWilliams, who had a trip across the grass, and Jamie Coward to take fourth.

Dunlop ran deep into University corner on the first lap before retiring while his McAdoo Racing team-mate Adam McLean also pulled into the pits.

Richard Cooper dominated both Supertwin races but was disqualified

As in the first outing, Cooper powered clear at the front as Frenchmen Bian ran straight on at York corner.

The Kawasaki led from Joe Loughlin, who failed to start the first race. McWilliams headed Johnston, Christian Elkin, Michael Sweeney and Coward at the end of the first lad for the final podium place.

Cooper opened up a 6.6 second lead on the second lap ahead of Loughlin, who was comfortable in second place.

The Nottingham rider broke his own lap record with a 4:47.065 and took the chequered by 11.241 seconds over Loughlin, while Johnston edged out McWilliams and Coward.

Cooper's victories were protested about a bracket on his Kawasaki, a move which KMR team owner Ryan Farquhar described as "sour grapes".

However, long after racing finished, Cooper was excluded from the two Supertwin races which handed Bian and Loughlin their maiden international road race wins.

Johnston wins classic Supersport battle

Seeley beat Todd and Jeremy McWIlliams in Thursday's tight opener, but it was the Padgetts Honda of Todd who fired into an early lead.

Johnston, from 11th on the grid, stormed up the order to get on the tail of Todd and the two traded places several times as the two winners from 2019 duelled out front, with Dunlop just behind.

After dropping down to fourth, Seeley pulled into the pits and retired, and as the leading two continued to battle Dunlop began to close in by the end of the third lap.

Johnston and Todd continued to trade paint out front, and Todd went deep into Mather's Cross and ran across the grass on lap four to allow the Northern Irishman some breathing space.

Lee Johnston beat Davey Todd in a thrilling Supersport race

In the battle behind, Hillier slid off in the multi-rider battle for fourth, and by the time Johnston reached University Todd had recovered to sit on the tail of the Ashcourt Racing Yamaha.

Todd and Johnston swapped places three times on the penultimate lap, in which Todd broke the lap record, with 0.2 seconds separating the pair over the line.

Johnston sat behind his rival throughout the final lap and managed to pounce down the inside on the Juniper Chicane after Todd ran slightly wide through Black Hill, and the winning margin was just 0.079 seconds as Johnston out-dragged Todd to the chequered flag.

Dunlop finished third ahead of Harrison, Coward and Loughlin.

Saturday results at the North West 200