Conor Cummins 'over the moon' with road racing return

Conor Cummins says he is "over the moon" to be back racing on the roads after finishing 10th in the opening Supersport race at the North West 200.

The Manx racer is competing in his first international road race meeting since a high-speed crash in last year's Senior TT on the Isle of Man.

"It was great dicing with Guy Martin and I'm happy being back doing what I love best," said the 24-year-old.

Alastair Seeley took the chequered flag in difficult wet conditions.

The TAS Suzuki edged a thrilling last-lap battle with Cameron Donald by 0.824 seconds, with New Zealand's Bruce Anstey third.

Alastair Seeley edged out Cameron Donald to win "It's a great win and hopefully I can carry on from here," said Seeley.

The Isle of Man's Si Fulton finished 16th.

Following the meeting's opening race the paddock area was evacuated and there was a 45-minute delay before the alert came to an end.

All races have been reduced from six to five laps because of the poor weather, with the riders having two sighting laps before each race.

The first Superbike race was scheduled to open the programme but organisers decided to go with with the less powerful Supersport machines.


Supersport 600 (Race One)Result

1. Alastair Seeley 107.97mph
2. Cameron Donald 107.91
3. Bruce Anstey 106.96
4. Michael Dunlop 106.32
5. Gary Johnson 106.18
10. Conor Cummins 103.85
16. Si Fulton 101.59


Supersport Race 1 Full Results

Racing at the the North West 200 has been delayed for a second time.

A security alert caused a 45-minute suspension of racing and an oil spill in the first Superbike race has caused a further delay.

Seeley was leading Michael Dunlop in the first Superbike race when an oil spill from Ryan Farquhar's machine led to it being halted after two laps.

The races were reduced from six to five laps because of the poor weather, with the riders having two 'sighting' laps before each race.

The paddock area was evacuated during the security alert after the Supersport race.

Conditions deteriated during the alert and led to pole position man Michael Rutter, team-mate Martin Jessopp and Guy Martin opting not to compete in the opening Superbike race, which was reduced to four laps.

Michael Dunlop took an early lead but he was soon joined by Seeley, who had moved ahead on the second lap when the oil spill led to the race being stopped.

NO More Racing Today

The 2011 North West 200 Race Meeting has been cancelled as of 17:20 hrs, due to a series of unforeseen events, resulting in concern for the safety of the participants.

Inclement Weather, A Security Issue and an Oil Spill on the circuit.

Seeley won them all....

Roll on the TT.

Cheers Malcolm.

What a totally disastrous day......We can feel sympathy for Mervin and everybody from riders to spectators for the way the day turned out.

It is a shame that the NW200 is run over only one day and anything can disturb the smooth running of such an event. Its not like the car GPs where they can run a race later in the year.

I'm pleased that I saw the first and only race...even in wet coditions it was exciting.

My only criticism is the overuse of the views from the helicopter. It would have been nice to see more at ground level especially on the corners. We couldn't identify riders from up in the air and, on occasions, neither could the commentators....