Racing at the North West 200 got under way in glorious weather conditions on Northern Ireland’s north coast on Thursday evening.

Peter Hickman won a thrilling Superstock race after edging out Ulsterman Alastair Seeley in the final few yards.

But Seeley took his record tally of NW200 wins to 22 with a Supersport victory, while Martin Jessopp took the Supertwin honours.

There was a BMW top four in the Superstock race after six laps of the Coleraine Triangle in which Hickman edged out Seeley by 0.578 of a second after slipping up the inside of him into the final corner.

Michael Dunlop was a similar margin behind in third, followed by Michael Rutter and the Kawasakis of James Hillier and Dean Harrison.

Lee Johnston got the Honda home seventh, with team-mate Ian Hutchinson 13th.

Dan Kneen retired on lap four and Conor Cummins on lap three.

The two Manxmen had better runs in the Supersport race. Cummins was sixth on the Padgett’s Honda, one place in front of Hutchy, with Kneen 10th on the Jackson Racing Honda.

At the sharp end, Carrickfergus rider Seeley secured a Supersport win for the ninth straight year as he came in ahead of Hillier and Johnston. Harrison and Gary Johnson were fourth and fifth.

Jessopp won the four-lap Supertwin race by 1.86 seconds from 54-year-old former GP ace Jeremy McWilliams, with comparative youngsters, Joey Thompson and Adam McLean, third and fourth. Thompson led the race for most of the distance.

Isle of Man-based Jamie Williams was 15th on the JLG Racing Kawasaki.

Racing continues tomorrow (Saturday). Highlights are on BBC One Northern Ireland this evening (Friday), Sunday and Monday.