Alastair Seeley is steeling himself for one final herculean effort as he attempts to revive his challenge for the Motorpoint British Supersport crown starting this weekend at Assen.

Only three rounds of the championship remain and Seeley will need a large slice of fortune if he’s to claw back the 59-point deficit to Smiths Triumph rider Billy McConnell, who tops the table by a single point from team-mate Graeme Gowland.

The Mar-Train Racing rider has won more races than any of his rivals this season, scaling the top step five times compared to the four wins apiece achieved by Smiths Triumph pair McConnell and Gowland, but Seeley has struggled with the handling characteristics of the Yamaha at some circuits where a larger number of chicanes and hairpins come into play.

“We need to try and muster something from the last three rounds to try and get the championship back on track,” the 34-year-old told the News Letter.

“I like this circuit [Assen], but we have to wait and see how the Yamaha behaves here. We’ve had issues at the hairpins and chicanes when we go from high speed to slow speed with the bike backing in.

“Looking at this track there’s only really two areas where it might be an issue but we’ll try our best to sort it out and get on with the job in hand.”

Seeley – who holds a 10-point advantage over fellow Carrick man Glenn Irwin in the battle for Ulster bragging rights – recognises the odds are stacked against him but the two-time British champion is too long in the tooth to hoist the white flag just yet.

“Anything can happen in racing and I’ll just keep chipping away and hopefully something will come of it. You never know what might happen at the front in this Supersport class because it’s cut and thrust and banging bars,” he said.

Practice gets underway on Friday with final qualifying and the first Supersport Sprint race over 12 laps on Saturday at approximately 5.10pm UK time.



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