Rain at the North West 200 finally stopped on Thursday afternoon, just in time for the final Superbike qualifying session, but with roads still wet, no-one was able to get near their lap speeds from Tuesday. However, the track continually dried throughout the session and lap times tumbled all the time with John McGuinness ending the session quickest with a lap of 110.539mph.
McGuinness led a Honda TT Legends 1-2 for much of the session with Simon Andrews slotting into second at 109.865 but a late lap of 109.891 from Bruce Anstey pushed him down to third although it still meant Hondas filled the top 3 positions. Conor Cummins held fourth for a long time but Michael Rutter but in two late laps and was the last man to take the chequered flag, a lap of 109.362 placing him fourth and pushing Manxman Cummins down to fifth.
Michael Dunlop posted the 6th quickest time whilst one of the most impressive performances came from Liechenstein newcomer Horst Saiger. The World Endurance and Macau regular was 8th quickest and proved his dry lap on Tuesday of 114.053mph was no fluke. Cameron Donald took to the track for the first time today to place 9th whilst Alastair Seeley, Guy Martin, Ian Hutchinson and Dan Kneen all remained in the pits.
However, the speeds and places were all academic with Tuesday's speeds meaning the front two rows will be occupied by Seeley (pole), McGuinness, William Dunlop, Martin, Jessopp and Hutchinson. Anstey and Andrews have the most work to do in 15th and 19th respectively.
