NW200: Alastair Seeley says 'tell him to remember it's a road race' after Glenn Irwin contact in Superbike opener

Seeley felt the eight-time Superbike winner had made a ‘risky’ move after Irwin came past to take the lead into Ballysally roundabout on his BeerMonster Ducati.

Irwin went on to win the race, which was halted due to a red-flag incident at Black Hill, while pole man Seeley was forced to retire on the Milwaukee BMW due to overheating issues.

Speaking afterwards, Seeley – now a 29-time winner around the ‘Triangle’ course following a Superstock double – said: “The result wasn’t great, we had a DNF. The engine was getting too warm and it was splashing water, and I didn’t know if it would go down into the belly pan and maybe get onto the back tyre, so I brought the bike in.”

Elaborating on the incident with Irwin, the 43-year-old said he ‘nearly had to go across the roundabout’.

“For me, whenever I turned into the ‘Magic’ roundabout, Glenn has come up the inside and has caught the wing, and there was damage caused to the wing,” Seeley said.

“It was a bit of a risky move going into a high-speed corner. I nearly had to sit up and go across the roundabout, which wouldn’t have been ideal with kerbs and stuff, so I was kind of thinking ‘Glenn, just calm down instead of riding so ragged’.

“We’ve always been friends, and an apology is an apology, and you kind of have to accept it if he’s apologising for what he’s done, which means that it was his fault.

“So, just tell him to remember it’s a road race and we all need to not have contact at that speed,” added Seeley, in an interview broadcast live during BBC Sport NI’s coverage of the event.

Irwin felt he was ‘absolutely sure’ he was in front of Seeley going into the roundabout and revealed that he had offered an apology to Seeley afterwards.

“I was absolutely sure I was ahead of him going into the roundabout,” he said.

“We’ve connected. I was shaking my head and he was asking why that was. I was shaking my head in disbelief at him hitting into me – I would never ride like that, not in a road race.

“I’ve tried to apologise and I hope he accepts it. There’s a lot of water under the bridge between us two so I hope he accepts it.”