Richard Cooper will line up in pole position for the two Supertwin races at the North West 200, the Nottinghamshire rider’s lap of 111.723mph on Tuesday on the KMR Kawasaki failing to be bettered on Thursday morning.
Overnight rain had left the 8.9-mile circuit damp with none of the top ten going any quicker, Cooper’s unofficial lap record some 3.415s quicker than second placed Jeremy McWilliams on the Bayview Racing Paton.
Paul Jordan (PreZ Racing Kawasaki) completes the front row with Adam McLean leading the second row on the JMcC Roofing Kawasaki, the local rider suffering a fuel tank leak on Thursday morning. He’ll be joined on row two by Michael Dunlop (McAdoo Kawasaki) and Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Aprilia), the latter posting the third quickest time on Thursday morning.
Michael Sweeney and Stefano Bonetti on the Team ILR/Frog Developments Paton’s will start from seventh and eighth on the grid with Peter Hickman (PHR Performance Yamaha) and Joe Loughlin (G2-Tech Kawasaki) completing the top ten.
Cooper was also quickest on Thursday morning, but his lap was some 17s slower than his time two days before, which was indicative of the damp track.
Two riders who did benefit on Thursday morning were Christian Elkin (RB Engineering Kawasaki) and Michael Rutter (Bathams Racing Yamaha). The duo failed to qualify on Tuesday with Rutter only getting his Yamaha ready on Wednesday evening, but their times will see them line up in 16th and 17th on the grid.
