Carrick's Alastair Seeley will bid to become a three time British champion when this season's British Supersport Championship gets underway at Brands Hatch in Kent on Saturday and Sunday.

Conspicuous by his absence in the media of late, Seeley has slipped somewhat under the radar during the winter months, the Gearlink Kawasaki rider preferring to shun the public interest and watch his son Lewis (6) collect his own hatful of sporting silverware.

"I've been keeping my head down in preparation for the season starting; just training away and waiting on it all starting, but Lewis has been busy scoring goals for his Greenisland football team and also won three races in a recent swimming gala," explained the proud father, who is currently paving the way for a motorcycling debut for his six-year-old.

"Yeah, he's been riding his little motocross bike and enjoying that also, so I hope to put him out at one of the Carrick grass tracks at the end of April.

"He's actually coming with me this weekend to Brands to end his Easter holidays, so hopefully his winning streak can rub off on dad," joked the 2011 British Supersport champion.

Seeley has switched from the blue of TAS Suzuki to the green of Gearlink Kawasaki for 2013 and while many reasons were cited for his Superbike demise, we must not forget, the fiesty little Ulsterman has won races in every class of chosen competition at British championship level.

On that journey, he has lifted two British championship class titles and climbed onto eight North West 200 top steps in the past five seasons, and in my humble opinion, would be well capable of a decent crack at the World Supersport title – if only he could find a team willing to give him a talent based opportunity.

Seeley remains philosophical about the chances of a world championship 'golden ticket', preferring to concentrate on the here-and-now, and the distinct possibility of landing British title number three on October 20 at Brands Hatch.

"We were not far away from O'Halloran and Wilson in the recent tests, but not much can really be taken from them to be honest as the weather was that cold," said Seeley.

This year in a bitter twist of fate they are team-mates, but as the Carrick man explained, team colours are the only connection.

"We might be team-mates but let's just say, I'll not be asking him if he wants sugar in his tea," was his tongue in cheek comment.

"The Gearlink Kawasaki package was good enough last season, and while Ben led races, his head wasn't really in the job. With the new Akira engines and a revised set-up I'm confident we can challenge at the sharp end," Seeley concluded.




Paul Lindsay
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