Michael andIdon’t get on but we’ll make top team: Seeley
ALASTAIR Seeley has spoken for the first time about his fierce North West 200 rivalry with Michael Dunlop, claiming the pair never speak to each other nor exchange handshakes, even when sharing the winners’ podium.
They are now team mates after Dunlop signed a deal with Hector and Philip Neill’s Moneymore-based TAS Tyco BMW team to ride one of their Superbikes.
It is an unexpected and intriguing coming together by two of the sport’s greatest riders and will inevitably sharpen their competitive edge when they go head to head in front of thousands of fans on the north coast in just over six weeks.
It is an open secret that there is little love lost between Seeley (38), who holds the record of 21 victories at the North West, and Dunlop (29), a 15-times winner at the Isle of Man TT.
Seeley, who is racing this weekend at the opening round of the British Superstock Championship at Donington Park, confirmed: “I’m not sure why we’ve never seen eye to eye.”
Dunlop (below), who earlier this month left the Hawk Racing team, has already admitted his relationship with the Tyco team in the past has not always been cordial.
But it’s going to be fascinating to see how he gets on with Seeley when sharing space in the North West paddock area.
Dunlop’s late father Robert once held the record for North West wins (15) until Seeley took over two years ago. The Carrickfergus rider, who has pledged to keep going for as long as he can, is keen to play down any perceived tensions between him and his big rival from Ballymoney.
Long before the official announcement of his arrival, the rumour mill had been in overdrive about Dunlop’s plans for the new season and all was confirmed before it went public when a friend texted Seeley to say: “I see you’ve got a new team mate.”
Seeley said: “It is interesting and exciting to have somebody of that calibre in the team. It is good, and it means we are all under the same roof at the North West where we will have the same machinery.
“On race day, it is up to me to do a good job and hopefully keep him behind me. Yes, we are very competitive. I’m not sure why we have never seen eye to eye, but there have never been any altercations or anything done on the track to make it happen.
“Maybe it’s how Michael approaches racing. We’ve never actually shaken hands, or spoke much, on the podium or anything. Probably it’s because I’m there to win, and he’s there to win. “The competitiveness of the two of us makes it that we don’t like to lose, and he’s probably been on the receiving end more than myself.
“That’s what makes this