Lee Johnston claimed pole position for Saturday’s two Supersport races at the Ulster Grand Prix with the East Coast Construction/Burdens rider lapping at 127.377mph to edge out Bruce Anstey and Guy Martin.
However, it was Keith Amor, now back to full fitness after his TT crash, who was the first to show his hand with his second lap of 125.435mph seeing him set the early pace from Johnston, Ian Hutchinson, Anstey, Ivan Lintin and Glenn Irwin.
Third time around and it was Anstey who was quickest at 126.413mph with Amor down to second on 126.154mph as Johnston all but matched him at 126.152mph, just 0.004s adrift.
However, Johnston had clear road at the head of the field and increased his speed fourth time around to 127.377mph to knock Anstey off the top spot with Amor dropping to third. Martin, back out on the Triumph he rode at the TT, moved up to fourth just over two seconds behind Johnston.
The top two remained the same for the rest of the 30-minute session although Anstey edged closer to Johnston with his lap of 127.191mph seeing him close to within four tenths of a second of the Ulsterman.
Martin also quickened his pace and he pushed Amor off the front row with just five minutes of the session remaining. Indeed, the closing stages saw a considerable shuffle in the leaderboard as William Dunlop jumped up to fourth with Amor slipping back to fifth.
British Supersport Championship contender Irwin moved up to sixth with a speed of 125.948mph on his sixth lap to nudge out Ian Hutchinson and he was followed by Michael Dunlop and Conor Cummins as less than five seconds covered the top ten.
