Michael Dunlop set an unofficial lap record of 122.275mph to claim a superb pole position for Saturday’s two Superbike races at the International North West 200. With the sun continuing to beat down on the Causeway Coast, Dunlop steadily built up as the 50-minute session progressed and two 122mph+ laps at the end of the session gave him almost a one-second advantage over fellow BMW rider Michael Rutter.
The Bathams-backed rider, quickest in Tuesday’s opening session, was only just outside the existing lap record held by Alastair Seeley and it was the Ulsterman who completed the front row on the Mar-Train Kawasaki. He held sway at the top of the timesheets for the majority of the session and was clearly happy with the set-up as he parked the bike after just four laps.
Guy Martin, much happier on the Superbike than the other two Tyco Suzuki’s, posted the fourth quickest time just ahead of team-mate William Dunlop with Bruce Anstey the first of the Honda riders in sixth and the sixth rider to lap in excess of 121mph.
Conor Cummins, Stuart Easton, Martin Jessopp and James Hillier completed the top ten but times were tight with just 4.3s covering the ten riders. Indeed, it was close right the way through the field with only nine seconds covering the top twenty which bodes extremely well for Saturday’s two seven-lap races.
Josh Brookes, Ian Hutchinson, John McGuinness and Dean Harrison were all outside of the top ten whilst Gary Johnson failed to post a competitive lap time after a stone flicked up by the rear wheel of Easton holed his radiator.
Top ten lap speeds
1 Michael Dunlop 122.275mph
2 Michael Rutter 121.384
3 Alastair Seeley 121.606
4 Guy Martin 121.466
5 William Dunlop 121.269
6 Bruce Anstey 121.139
7 Conor Cummins 121.108
8 Stuart Easton 120.643
9 Martin Jessopp 120.339
10 James Hillier 120.308
