By Barry Russell
The weather gods of Northern Ireland smiled on competitors at the North West 200, giving them better, drier conditions than on Tuesday night.
With many riders’ lap times falling by more than five seconds, Relentless by TAS Suzuki’s Alastair Seeley was again setting the pace, topping the Superstock and Supersport sheets, though was thwarted by fuelling problems which dropped him back to 7th on the Superbike grid. Gary Johnson was again ahead of most of the factory supported riders on the East Coast Racing Hondas, placing second in Supersport, fourth in Superstock and 6th in Superbike.
In the Superbike category the Rapid Solicitors Bathams Ducatis of Michael Rutter, who clocked a best lap of 4:26.336, and Martin Jessop will line up first and second, ahead of Michael Dunlop’s Street Sweep Kawasaki and Guy Martin, while Cameron Donald, Gary Johnson, Alastair Seeley and Bruce Anstey make up the second row. North West 200 rookie, Simon Andrews on the Ice Valley BMW and Bournemouth Kawasaki’s James Hillier also did well to get amongst the factory teams on the third row.
Behind Seeley and Johnson, Michael Dunlop and Bruce Anstey will make up the front row of the Supersport grid, with Donald, Martin, William Dunlop and Ryan Farquhar on row two. Johnson’s East Coast Racing teammate Lee Johnstone put in another good session to qualify 9th on his first trip to the Triangle Circuit, ahead of the Kawasakis of Ian Lougher and James Hillier and Dan Kneen’s Marks Bloom Racing Yamaha.
In Superstock, Seeley’s pole position time of 4:29.761 was 0.855 ahead of Michael Dunlop, with Rutter and Johnson in third and fourth, a further 3 seconds behind. William Dunlop’s Wilson Craig Honda was fifth fastest ahead of Farquhar and the impressive Hillier, with Donald completing the second row. Martin qualified ninth, 6.7 seconds behind his teammate, which may explain the ‘quiet’ mood of the Lincolnshire rider that was noted yesterday.
The start of the session was marred by the incident involving MSS Colchester Kawsaki teammates Stuart Easton and Gary Mason. The latest report on Easton’s condition is that he has a smashed pelvis, broken femur and broken knuckles and fingers and has undergone surgery for a perforated bowel. Mason was able to walk away uninjured.
While Seeley has set himself up for a record-breaking North West 200, the form of Rutter, Johnson, Jessop and Michael Dunlop suggests that they won’t be prepared to let the Ballymena man get away easily when the lights go out on Saturday. Fans’ favourite and star of TT3D: Closer to the Edge, Guy Martin, has left himself with something to prove in the first international road race of 2011 and, on one of the fastest machines on the grid, cannot be ruled out.
