NW200: Peter Hickman claims maiden win in dramatic Superstock race

Peter Hickman won the Superstock race on Thursday at the North West 200 on the Smiths BMW.

Hickman made up for the disappointment of failing to register the required amount of laps to compete in the Supersport races as he swept past 22-time winner Alastair Seeley on the brakes at Juniper chicane on the last lap.

Michael Dunlop, who was the early leader on his MD Racing BMW, finished third as the trio were only separated by 1.1 seconds.

It seemed as though Seeley was on course for his 23rd triumph at the event as he led onto the final lap on the Tyco BMW.

The Carrick man was still in front at Metropole, but Hickman wasn’t finished and the British Superbike rider gained excellent drive out of Black Hill on his Smiths BMW and was able to dive underneath Seeley at the all-important final chicane. His winning advantage at the line was 0.5 seconds as the race went down to the wire.

Behind the top three, Michael Rutter was fourth on his Bathams BMW, one second behind Dunlop, while James Hillier broke the BMW monopoly as he took fifth on the JG Speedfit Kawasaki, who was only a few tenths ahead of Dean Harrison on the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki in sixth.

Lee Johnston (Honda Racing) and Gary Johnson (RAF Reserves Kawasaki) were the top eight.

The Superstock race was delayed by over half-an-hour due to an oil spill following an engine blow-up on the sighting lap near Station Corner.