North West 200: Record holder Seeley to ride for IFS team in three classes at 2022 road race
- Published
Alastair Seeley on board his IFS Yamaha at Bishopscourt
Alastair Seeley is to ride Yamaha machinery for the IFS team at this year's North West 200 international road races from 10-14 May.
Seeley rode for the Northern Ireland-based team in the Ulster Championship on short circuits in 2021, winning both the Superbike and Supersport series.
The 42-year-old has won a record 24 North West races and will ride in the Superbike, Superstock and Supersport classes over the Triangle circuit.
Seeley is a double British champion.
The Carrickfergus rider won the National Superstock title in 2009 and followed that up by being crowned British Supersport champion in 2011.
After failing to secure a British championship ride last year, he dominated the Ulster short circuit scene, winning each of the 12 races staged in the Superbike class.
Before Christmas he took up a job as a postman in his native Carrickfergus while searching for a ride at the returning road race.
"It's good to get something nailed down - the team all work well together and I'm well excited about it," said Seeley.
"I'm happy to be on Yamahas - in the Supersport class it is the weapon of choice and in the big bikes it's a great package as shown by Toprak [Razgatlioglu] winning the World Superbike series and Tarran Mackenzie the BSB Championship.
"The bikes will be good, we shouldn't be short of parts and I've flicked the switch into training mode so I'll be ready come the North West.
"It would be nice to reach 25 but the competition is always getting tougher so we'll try to get as much mileage as we can under our belt before then.
"I can go in as the underdog now, be a bit more relaxed and hopefully slip in under the radar."
Meet the record-breaking fastest postman in the country
Distinguished North West 200 career
Seeley stands nine clear of the late Robert Dunlop in the list of all-time winners at the North West and won at least one race every year at the event from 2008 to 2018.
Twelve of his 24 wins have come in the middleweight Supersport class - including at least one triumph in the 600ccs in each of nine consecutive years, a sequence that started in 2010.
Seeley has racked up eight Superstock wins and four Superbike successes, with his overall tally including victories for four different manufacturers - Kawasaki, BMW, Suzuki and Yamaha.
He currently holds the lap record for the Superstock and Supersport classes and holds the record for the most podiums at the meeting, with 36.
Fourteen of his successes have come in the colours of Hector and Philip Neill's TAS racing outfit in its various guises.