Alastair Seeley increased his record of North West 200 wins t🍨o 22 with a classy victory in the opening Supersport race at the event on Thursday evening.

Riding for the EHA Racing Yamaha team, Seeley came out on top after a battle with Jam✱es Hillier (Qu꧂attro Plant Kawasaki) and Lee Johnston (Padgett’s Honda) at the Northern Ireland road race.

Seeley’s winning margin was 2.4 seconds after he pulled the pin on the last lap. The Ulster rider ha🍸s won a race at the 💃event every year since his first victory in 2008.

He said: “It’s nice to keep that record going. I knew the boys were there because they kept passing me and I knew going in to the last lap that I had to make a g🍸ap.

“The fuel load was down so I knew I could𓆏 brake later and I bided my time to lose the tow. I still had plenty in the tank.”

Dean Harrison was fourth on the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki ahead of Gary Johnson (Lee Hardy Triumph) and Manx rider Conor Cummins ꧑on the Padgetts Honda.

Ian Hutchinson, making his꧋ road racing comeback after a long injury layoff, was s♊eventh (Padgetts Honda).

In the Superstock race, it looked as though Seeley was going to make it a double but Peter Hickman had other id♒eas as he snatched his maiden win at the North West.

Hickman dived inside Seeley on the brakes going into Juniper chicane on theꦯ Smiths BMW and held on to win by half-a-second, with Michael Dunlop third on the MD Racing BMW.

“It was really close on the lap before and I knew I could have a go there,” Hi🌼ckman said.

“I didn’t want to show my hand too early but I was really strong at Black Hill and the bike is good in a stra๊ight line. Alastair tried to let the brakes off and lean on me going into Juniper and I thought ‘You’re not doing that!’”

Veteran Michael Rutter closed on the leading trio on the final 🌠lap to claim fourth place on the Bathams BMW.

“It was tight and I thought I had him,” said runner-up Seeley. “Hickman ha🌳d a go at Juniper and I had to sit up and then I ran on to t🤪he gravel.”

Hillier and Bradford man Harrison rounded ꦐout the first six, wi♚th Lee Johnston seventh.

Inﷺ the first Supertwins race, Martin Jessopp sealed his third North West victory on the Riders Motorcღycles Kawasaki.

The Yeovil rider beat former Grand Prix winner Jeremy McWilliams by 1.8 seconds, with the 54-year-old taking the runner-up spot ahead of 20-year-o🐈ld prospect Joey Thompson, who was riding a Paton.

Jessopp had earlier came off at Mill Road roundabout on the first lap of the Supersport ra🐼ce but he certainly made up for his mistake in the b𝔉est way possible.

“The evening had started off well whe♛n I was leading the Supersport race and then I ended up s😼itting on top of the Mill Road roundabout!”, he joked.

“It was a hard race and I only led from Metrop🍷ole on the last lap♚ because I was losing so much out of the corners.”

💜McWilliams was in front on the opening lap but had to settle for second on his Ryan Farquhar-prepared KMR𓄧 Kawasaki.

“I fell asleep a little bit and I couldn’t work out where𝕴 they were faster,” he said.

“The Paton had some pace and then the other boys got in among us and I had to weigh them up. I🅠t came good at the end.🎉”

Adam McLean, who qualified second fastest, was fourth on the🐎 Hanna Kawasaki ahead of James Cowton (McAdoo Kawasaki).

Raci♚ng continues on S🐎aturday, with the Superbike events headlining a five-race programme.