Alastair Seeley duly made it three from three when he took pole position in a shortened Superbike qualifying session at the International North West 200.
The Wee Wizard set a succession of 121mph+ laps and was never headed during the session, which was stopped eight minutes early due to a fire out on the course. The non-racing incident brought a premature end to the qualifying due to time running out with the road closing order just as all the top names had headed back out on to the course.
It all meant Seeley’s Tyco BMW ended some 2.4s clear of fellow BMW rider Lee Johnston who lapped at 120.428 on just his second lap. A trip down the slip road at Metropole didn’t aid his cause in lapping quicker but he held on to the middle spot on the front row with a late charge from Honda’s John McGuinness, clearly right back on form, giving him third. He was the last rider to break the 120mph mark.
Flying Kiwi Bruce Anstey showed he firmly intended to extend his run of podiums, dating back to his debut in 2002, with the fourth fastest time and he’ll be joined on the second row by William Dunlop, none the worst for his earlier Supersport spill, and Michael Rutter, the latter happy with the handling of his BMW but suffering slightly with electronic issues.
The two Yamahas of Michael Dunlop and Dean Harrison occupied seventh and eighth with Conor Cummins and Martin Jessopp completing a top ten that was split by just six seconds. Once again, a host of top names found themselves outside the top ten with ian Hutchinson, James Hillier, Ryan Farquhar and Guy Martin occupying the next four places.
Keith Amor and Dan Kneen were back in 18th and 19th respectively to give themselves plenty to do on race day with newcomer David Johnson taking a strong 20th place. Hutchy was quickest through the speed trap at 199.8mph ahead of Harrison and Anstey (both 198.6).
