KMR Kawasaki's Jeremy McWilliams will start this evening's Vauxhall North West 200 Supertwin race from pole position after a wet second session this morning meant dry times from Tuesday will stand.
Consistent drizzle greeted the riders for final qualifying at the North West 200 on Thursday morning, with the opening Supertwins session getting underway at 10.45 but speeds were considerably down on Tuesday's times.
It was Lee Johnston who was quickest in the early stages, a lap of 95.974mph just giving him the edge over Michael Dunlop (95.248mph) and Michael Sweeney (95.059mph). Newcomer James Cowton, on one of the four KMR Kawasaki's in the field, was also going well at 94.353mph.
As expected, the sun was also shining at various stages of the session, and speeds did gradually improve, Dunlop moving to the top of the pile mid-way through the 30-minute session with a lap of 98.166. Ivan Lintin (McKinstry Racing Kawasaki) jumped up to second on 97.597 whilst Cowton improved to 97.383 but the biggest change came at the top with Jeremy McWilliams (KMR Kawasaki) lapping at 99.258.
He fared better than team-mate Michael Rutter who suffered a holed screen and only managed a lap at a lowly 60.020 as a result before improving second time around to 89.983.
However, it all meant the speeds from Tuesday's session determined the grid with the front row comprising McWilliams, Rutter and William Davison.
Top ten overall:
1 Jeremy McWilliams 104.778mph
2 Michael Rutter 104.723
3 William Davison 104.266
4 Jamie Hamilton 104.249
5 Michael Dunlop 103.076
6 James Hillier 102.958
7 Ivan Lintin 102.788
8 Paul Shoesmith 99.550
9 James Cowton 99.260
10 Lee Johnston 99.215