After a wet day on Wednesday, practice for the Ulster Grand Prix had another delayed start on Thursday morning with the bikes eventually taking to the Dundrod circuit at 11.45am. The first session was for those riders who failed to complete 5 laps on Wednesday and although unofficial, it was Gary Johnson who was quickest, just over half a second clear of Steve Mercer. Although no rain was falling, the track was damp all around after the heavy overnight rain fall.

UGP Superbike qualifying

At 12.35pm, the Superbikes were out in force for their official qualifying session and it was Keith Amor who set the early pace on the Honda TT Legends Superbike ahead of John Burrows and Guy Martin. Ten minutes into session and it was Cameron Donald who was top of the timesheets, his time of 3m45.993s giving him a 1.6s advantage over Amor, Ryan Farquhar and Martin with Michael Pearson, Ian Lougher, Gary Johnson, Burrows, Adrian Archibald and Steve Mercer also in the top ten.

Midway through and Donald continued to set the pace but only by a hundredth of a second from Martin with Amor still in third as John McGuinness began to move up the leaderboard, the Honda TT Legends rider up to seventh. The whole field were continuing to lap quicker though as conditions improved but it was still Donald and Martin who were leading the way, still separated by less than half a second but now over three seconds quicker than Amor.

With ten minutes of the thirty minute session remaining, the order was still Donald, Martin, Amor and Farquhar with Johnson and McGuinness completing the lap six, Donald’s lap just under 120mph and some 23 seconds off the outright lap record. Martin then went quickest with a lap of 3m41.722 and that gave him a 0.876s advantage over Donald with Amor still in third and William Dunlop now up to fourth on the second Wilson Craig Honda. The closing minutes saw little change in the leaderboard although Johnson managed to overhaul Dunlop for fourth.

Speaking afterwards Martin admitted he was surprised to be quickest, “it wasn’t great out there and the bike’s going to need a pretty good wash that’s for sure. The water’s running off the fields which drags the mud with it but it was drying up as the session wore on and it’s good to be pole.”

Amor added; “aye, it was pretty greasy out there in places especially as the track started to dry out. Visibility was fine though and I just kept it steady and didn’t push hard. When i saw ‘P3’, I just tried to maintain that pace and front row will do me fine.”

1 Guy Martin (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) 3m41.721s (120.169mph)

2 Cameron Donald (Wilson Craig Racing Honda) +0.877s

3 Keith Amor (Honda TT Legends) +4.385s

4 Gary Johnson (East Coast Racing Honda) +6.070s

5 William Dunlop (Wilson Craig Racing Honda) +6.152s

6 Ryan Farquhar (KMR Kawasaki) +6.979s

7 Michael Dunlop (Street Sweep Kawasaki) +7.589s

8 John McGuinness (Honda TT Legends) +8.118s

9 John Burrows (BE Racing Suzuki) +8.142s

10 James McBride (Pazzo Racing Kawasaki) +8.362s

Supersport Qualifying

With a drying track, tyre choice was coming into play for the 30-minute Supersport session and whilst Cameron Donald opted full wets, many were running intermediates including Ryan Farquhar, Ian Lougher and Olie Linsdell, the latter making his return to the roads after his Manx Grand Prix crash almost 12 months ago.

Martin was showing his aptitude for the conditions as he went quickest on the first series of flying laps this time from Michael Dunlop whilst the surprise package was Wayne Hamilton in third. Bruce Anstey, John McGuinness and William Dunlop followed as Martin went through the speed trap along the ‘Flying Kilo’ at 163mph.

Ten minutes in and Martin still led with a lap of 3m49.719s but it was now the same three leading the way as in the Superbike session with Donald up to second and Amor third, William Dunlop up to fourth ahead of the impressive Hamilton and Anstey. The Kiwi was improving all the time though and soon moved up to third whilst fellow veteran Ian Lougher was looking good in sixth.

As the session moved into its final ten minutes, there was a change at the top of the leaderboard as Michael Dunlop went quickest on the Street Sweep Yamaha with a lap of 3m49.235s (116.228mph) but behind it was still the same, Martin followed by Donald, Anstey, Amor and Lougher. William Dunlop and Gary Johnson were up to seventh and eighth followed by Hamilton and Michael Pearson.

Dunlop was setting a good pace and a flying lap in the final five minutes of 3m47.424s sent him 2.2s clear but in as the chequered flag came out, a late charge by Amor gave him pole position whilst William Dunlop also improved late on to take fourth. The only other changes in the top ten were Pearson moving up to 9th and John McGuinness 10th whilst Hamilton ended up 11th just ahead of Conor Cummins. Ryan Farquhar ended up in 17th.

McGuinness commented; “it’s tough out there as half the circuit’s wet and half of it’s dry. It was patchy at the beginning of the session and intermediates were the way to go but then a few more spots of rain began to fall. It was really wet into Ireland’s and again into Wheelers so it made it hard work and I just tried to keep it all as smooth as possible.”.

1 Keith Amor (KBMG Racing Honda) 3m47.170s (117.286mph)

2 Michael Dunlop (Street Sweep Yamaha) +0.254s

3 Cameron Donald (Wilson Craig Racing Honda) +1.347s

4 William Dunlop (Wilson Craig Racing Honda) +2.123s

5 Guy Martin (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) +2.548s

6 Bruce Anstey (Padgetts Honda) +5.035s

7 Gary Johnson (East Coast Racing Honda) +6.222s

8 Ian Lougher (Blackhorse Kawasaki) +6.456s

9 Michael Pearson (D&GW/Carryduff Forklifts Yamaha) +6.797s

10 John McGuinness (Padgetts Honda) +8.362s

Superstock qualifying

Conditions had worsened considerably by the time the Superstock qualifying session got underway with heavy rain reported at Quarterlands and Cochranstown whilst it was also damp from Wheelers to the Hairpin.

Guy Martin soon moved to the top of the leaderboard followed by Ian Lougher and Michael Pearson with Keith Amor, Stephen Thompson and John Burrows completing the early top six but Ryan Farquhar was in trouble and only managed 2 laps and amongst the list of non-qualifiers.

Halfway through the session and it was Pearson who was upsetting the established guard and he moved into provisional pole position from Martin and Lougher whilst further back Bruce Anstey moved up to fourth and Adrian Archibald up to 7th. The rain was easing slightly so there was constant changes amongst the top ten with Australian David Johnson taking over 10th on the Sondel Racing Kawasaki.

However, the biggest changes came towards the end of the session and, after languishing down in 13th, Michael Dunlop leapt up to third and then grabbed pole position with a lap of 3m40.435s (120.870mph). Changes were taking place aplenty with William Dunlop, Anstey, Gary Johnson and Stephen Thompson just some of the riders putting in their best times on their last lap and McGuinness, Archibald and Burrows all dropping out of the top ten. But it was Dunlop who held onto pole from Martin, Dunlop and Pearson.

1 Michael Dunlop (Street Sweep Kawasaki) 3m40.435s (120.870mph)

2 Guy Martin (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) +1.623s

3 William Dunlop (Wilson Craig Racing Honda) +2.836s

4 Bruce Anstey (Padgetts Honda) +3.326s

5 Michael Pearson (D&GW Racing BMW) +3.535s

6 Gary Johnson (East Coast Racing Honda) +4.864s

7 Ian Lougher (Blackhorse Kawasaki) +5.138s

8 Cameron Donald (Wilson Craig Racing Honda) +6.459s

9 Stephen Thompson (T&R Motorsport BMW) +6.618s

10 Keith Amor (KBMG Racing Honda) +6.625s

Click here for full timesheets