Vauxhall International North West 200

Triangle Circuit, Northern Ireland

May 12, 2016

Provisional Qualifying Results:

Superbike:

1. Alastair Seeley (BMW S1000RR), 4:23.946, 122.343 mph

2. Michael Dunlop (BMW S1000RR) 4:23.963, 122.335 mph

3. Michael Rutter (BMW S1000RR), 4:25.454, 121.648 mph

4. Lee Johnston (BMW S1000RR), 4:26.733, 121.065 mph

5. Peter Hickman (Kaw ZX-10R), 4:27.073, 120.911 mph

6. Ian Hutchinson (BMW S1000RR), 4:27.110, 120.894 mph

7. Gary Johnson (BMW S1000RR), 4:27.954, 120.513 mph

8. John McGuinness (Hon CBR1000RR SP), 4:28.071, 120.461 mph

9. James Hillier (Kaw ZX-10R), 4:28.733, 120.164 mph

10. Ryan Farquhar (BMW S1000RR), 4:29.650, 119.755 mph

52. Brandon Cretu (Bim BB3), 5:03.276, 106.477 mph

Superstock:

1. Alastair Seeley (BMW S1000RR), 4:24.240, 122.207 mph

2. Michael Rutter (BMW S1000RR), 4:25.021, 121.847 mph

3. Peter Hickman (Kaw ZX-10R), 4:26.494, 121.173 mph

4. Ian Hutchinson (BMW S1000RR), 4:27.312, 120.803 mph

5. Michael Dunlop (BMW S1000RR), 4:27.610, 120.668 mph

6. Lee Johnston (BMW S1000RR), 4:28.523, 120.258 mph

7. Dean Harrison (Kaw ZX-10R), 4:28.753, 120.155 mph

8. Martin Jessopp (BMW S1000RR), 4:28.990, 120.049 mph

9. James Hillier (Kaw ZX-10R), 4:29.708, 119.729 mph

10. William Dunlop (Kaw ZX-10R), 4:29.868, 119.658 mph

47. Brandon Cretu (Bim BB3), 5:01.428, 107.130 mph

Supersport:

1. Alastair Seeley (Kaw ZX-6R), 4:36.064, 116.973 mph

2. Martin Jessopp (Yam YZF-R6), 4:37.082, 116.543 mph

3. Lee Johnston (Tri Daytona 675R), 4:37.242, 116.476 mph

4. William Dunlop (Yam YZF-R6), 4:39.383, 115.583 mph

5. John McGuinness (Hon CBR600RR), 4:39.794, 115.413 mph

6. Peter Hickman (Kaw ZX-6R), 4:40.561, 115.098 mph

7. Michael Rutter (Kaw ZX-6), 4:40.635, 115.068 mph

8. Dean Harrison (Kaw ZX-6R), 4:40.865, 114.973 mph

9. James Hillier (Kaw ZX-6R), 4:40.999, 114.919 mph

10. Jeremy McWilliams (Yam YZF-R6), 4:41.047, 114.899 mph

Supertwin:

1. Daniel Cooper (Kaw 650), 4:58.686, 108.114 mph

2. Ryan Farquhar (Kaw 650), 5:00.219, 107.561 mph

3. Ivan Lintin (Kaw 650), 5:00.660, 107.404 mph

4. Martin Jessopp (Kaw 650), 5:00.816, 107.348

5. Peter Hickman (Kaw 650), 5:02.446, 106.769 mph

6. James Hillier (Kaw 650), 5:02.456, 106.766 mph

7. Jeremy McWilliams (Kaw 650), 5:03.059, 106.554 mph

8. Paul Jordan (Kaw 650), 5:04.577, 106.022 mph

9. Danny Webb (Kaw 650), 5:05.059, 105.855 mph

10. M. Mitchell Thomas (Kaw 650), 5:05.455, 105.718 mph

15. Darren James (Kaw 650), 5:14.385, 102.715 mph

More, from a press release issued by North West 200 organizers:

Alastair Seeley topped all three of Thursday’s Superbike, Superstock and Sueprsport practice sessions to dominate final qualifying at the Vauxhall International North West 200 on Thursday.

The ‘Wee Wizard’ will start from pole position in Saturday’s Superbike races after setting a time of 4.23.946 at 122.343mph on the Briggs BMW S1000RR.

The 36 year old pipped Michael Dunlop (Hawk BMW) by just 0.017 seconds just before the red flags came out that brought the session to a premature end after a rider crashed at Mill Road roundabout. He sustained non-life threatening injuries and was being taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast by air ambulance.

“I went out at the start of the session and didn’t feel like I had much grip so I came in and changed from the harder to the softer tyre.” Seeley explained.

“We made some adjustments and it immediately felt better and with clear traffic on the second lap I set my fastest speed.

I can still tidy the bike up a bit because it isn’t 100% yet but we have laid a marker down and everyone likes to get P1.”

The Carrickfergus man was also fastest in the Superstock and Supersport qualifying on the Briggs BMW and GearLink Kawasaki, bettering the existing lap record in the stocker class.

Seeley is bidding to win his 16th North West after equalling the all-time record of the late Robert Dunlop last year. Robert’s son, Michael, is clearly determined to make Seeley work for that win and he topped the Superbike times for most of the session.

“We have a lot of little, niggly problems and we are working hard to rectify them but there are no major issues.” the Ballymoney man said.

13 times winner, Michael Rutter, proved he still has his sights set on more North West glory by taking the final front row place on his SMT/Bathams BMW. It was a good day for the Birmingham rider after he finished second in the Superstock session.

Lee Johnston (East Coast Construction/Burdens BMW), Peter Hickman (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) and Ian Hutchinson (Tyco BMW) will make up the second row after all three improved their Tuesday times on their superbikes.

Hutchinson broke the 200mph barrier through the speed trap on his stocker spec Tyco BMW, the first time a superstock bike has been timed at that speed on the Triangle course.

Gary Johnson (Penz13.com BMW) was seventh fastest with John McGuinness clinching eighth spot despite holing the radiator on his factory Honda.

James Hillier (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) and Ryan Farquhar (Tyco BMW) completed the top ten for both of Saturday’s Superbike races.

Jeremy McWilliams qualified a very respectable 14th on the Mar-Train Yamaha R1 as he acts as stand-in for the injured Dan Kneen, finishing ahead of North West superbike regulars Martin Jessopp (Riders BMW) and David Johnson (Ice Valley BMW).

Dan Cooper was the surprise pole position man on the Cooper Racing Kawasaki in the Supertwins category ahead of former Twins winner Ryan Farquhar (SGS/KMR Kawasaki) and Ivan Lintin on the Devitt/RC Express Kawasaki.

Racing in commences on Thursday evening with Supersport, Supertwin and Superstock events taking to the track after roads close at 5pm on.

Roads close on Saturday at 9.30am with racing starting at 10 am.

More, from a press release issued by Honda:

The 2016 North West 200 got underway this week in glorious conditions around the 8.9-mile Northern Irish circuit. After the practice and qualifying sessions Honda Racing’s John McGuinness and Conor Cummins will start Saturday’s Superbike races from eighth and 12th on the grid.

On Tuesday (10 May) the NW200 kicked off with the first Superbike practice. McGuinness, for the first time at the circuit, clocked over 200mph through the speed trap aboard his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machine and finished the session fourth fastest.

This afternoon it was looking hopeful for the Morecambe-missile, who in the early stages was running in third place. However, halfway through McGuinness made an unscheduled stop as his machine was overheating, which after inspection was caused from a large stone hitting the radiator.

A quick turn around saw the machine repaired, but the session was red flagged and stopped due to an incident on the circuit. McGuinness’s combined times place him eighth on the grid.

Meanwhile team-mate Cummins enjoyed a positive opening session on Tuesday and finished the day in eighth place. Today’s session saw a few small grip issues for the Manxman and with limited track time due to mid-session changes, and the red flag ending proceedings, he finished 19th. The combined session times see Cummins 12th on the grid for the Superbike races.

The schedule for Saturday (14 May) is below, with roads closing at 0930hrs BST.

Supersport race (6 laps)

Superbike race 1 (7 laps)

Supertwin race (4 laps)

Superstock race (6 laps)

Superbike race 2 (7 laps)

For the latest news and information on the team follow @HondaRacingCBR

Jonny Twelvetrees

Assistant team manager

It’s been a really good show from our guys so far and I’m pleased how they’re both going, on Tuesday they came back fourth and eighth fastest overall. John managed to crack the magic 200mph barrier, which we were all really pleased with. Today the sun is shining again and both riders were making really good progress, but towards the end John had a stone crack the radiator, which made a nice hole, but we got it changed and just as we were heading out again the session was unfortunately red flagged.

Conor had also been going well and has recorded some good times, in today’s session the team were working on some small changes, which if we’d had more track time would have proved strong. We’re positive for Saturday’s races now and just hope the good weather continues and we get two strong races.

John McGuinness 1

Tuesday was awesome! We did over 200mph, which I am still really pumped about. To do that felt so good; we were right in the mix and really competitive throughout the session. Today we made some small changes, maybe we didn’t go in the right direction with, but we had to try something. Halfway round I collected a massive hole in the radiator from a stone hit, I’ve never seen anything like it before, but these Superbikes have over 200bhp, so tear up the road a little! I am a little disappointed with that as I was running third at the time, but it comes with road racing. Now to refocus and regroup ahead of the races on Saturday.

Conor Cummins 10

The conditions so far this week at the North West 200 have been outstanding, it’s so nice to be here and get some good weather and a dry track. Tuesday was positive and I finished eighth overall, which was good and had some good times. Unfortunately today I didn’t get the chance for a good lap, the session was red flagged just as we were about to go out again after making some changes. The changes that we’d made I feel would have been really positive, so was a shame we couldn’t try those and try to improve on the lap times. But I am 12th on the grid for Saturday’s races on the fourth row, which isn’t too bad. I just hope we can pull it together for the race now and looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we can do.

More, from a press release issued by Bathams/SMT Racing:

Rutter in sparkling form at North West 200

Michael Rutter will start from the front row of the grid for Saturday’s Superbike and Superstock races at the International North West 200 after some blistering performances during qualifying on the Bathams/SMT Racing BMW’s.

With perfect conditions on the Causeway Coast all week, Rutter signalled his intentions on Tuesday when he lapped at 121.847mph to set an unofficial lap record in the Superstock class. Although he was unable to go any quicker in Thursday’s second qualifying session, that lap on the BMW S1000R will see him line up in second place on the grid and in the middle of the front row, less than a second behind similarly mounted Alastair Seeley.

In the Superbike class, Michael was having his first outing with the team having worked right up until the beginning of practice to get the all-new machine ready. A lap of 121.648mph on Thursday saw him move up the leaderboard to slot into third place and he’ll be on the front row once more for Saturday’s two races, this time behind Seeley and Michael Dunlop.

Michael was also in action in the Supersport class where he qualified in seventh place overall after a lap on Thursday of 115.068mph. Riding the Kawasaki ZX-6R, Thursday evening’s 6-lap race got proceedings underway and with the sun continuing to shine, he slotted into seventh at the end of the opening lap.

With less than four seconds covering the top ten, the race was a high-speed battle along the straights of the 8.9-mile circuit and positions were changing hands all the time. Michael found himself running in close company with regular sparring partner John McGuinness and whilst the front few riders made a break in the latter half of the race, Michael had to content himself with ninth place at the chequered flag despite improving his lap speeds to 115.955mph.

Michael Rutter: “We had a lot of work to do with the Superbike as it hadn’t turned a wheel before we got here so I was a little bit surprised to end up on the front row. There’s still work we can do to improve it and make it feel like the Superstock bike but we’re not a million miles away so should be set for two good races.”

“The Superstock bike is on rails and it’s really good. Obviously, having ridden it in the British Championship has helped and whilst it was a shame Thursday evening’s race didn’t take place, we’ve got two bites of the cherry now on Saturday. As for the Supersport bike, we’re a little bit down on power compared to the other bikes out there and I was a little bit disappointed with ninth. John and I were running at a similar pace and we couldn’t quite keep up with the leading pack but it was good to get the first race under our belts. I’m now looking forward to Saturday’s racing and every race is going to be hard fought.”

Michael now has five races on Saturday with two outings each in the Superbike and Superstock classes and a single outing again on the Supersport bike. The roads shut at 9.15am with the Supersport race kickstarting proceedings.

More, from a press release issued by Quattro Plant Kawasaki:

So far, so good for Hillier at North West 200

It’s been a strong week so far at the International North West 200 road races for James Hillier with the Quattro Plant Muc-Off Kawasaki putting in strong performances during qualifying in all classes.

With the 8.9-mile Causeway Coast circuit blessed with ideal conditions throughout the week, James ran consistently in the top ten during Tuesday and Thursday’s qualifying sessions prior to getting two races under his belt on Thursday evening. Second place was claimed in the Supertwin race although the result is yet to be confirmed due to a serious incident involving race leaders Ryan Farquhar and Daniel Cooper which brought the red flag out.

The incident occurred on the third lap when James was lying in third place but with the red flag not being displayed until the fourth lap, he was awarded second as Ivan Lintin crossed the line ahead of him. A steward’s inquiry was due to take place on Friday morning to determine the final result.

James was in contention for the race win throughout as he disputed the win along with Cooper, Farquhar and Lintin. Running in third on the opening lap, James hit the front on the high speed run to University second time around although by the end of the lap, he was back in third. Less than a second covered the quartet at the end of the second lap and whilst the race result has yet to be confirmed, all thoughts of both James and the team are with Farquhar who was taken to Belfast Hospital.

James was also in action on Thursday evening in the six-lap Supersport race where he was in the thick of the action throughout, the race seeing less than four seconds cover the top ten at one stage. A superb start saw James move up from his ninth place qualifying position to fourth at the end of the opening lap although such was the close proximity of the racing, positions were changing hands frequently.

As the race wore on, James was shuffled back to eighth place but by the chequered flag, he’d moved back up to seventh and was less than half a second adrift of sixth placed Lee Johnston, a solid result to start proceedings.

Meanwhile, in the Superstock and Superbike qualifying sessions, James posted the ninth fastest time in each, which will see him line up on the third row for Saturday’s races, each class having two outings. His best lap on the Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike was 120.164mph with his Superstock speed slightly slower at 119.729mph, speeds which have put him firmly in the ball park.

James Hillier: “It’s been a solid week so far and having arrived here wanting to give a better account of myself, I feel like I’ve certainly done that out on track. The Supertwin race obviously ended early and on a low note and whilst it was good to see Dan up and around the paddock on Friday morning, my thoughts are with Ryan and hope that he makes a full recovery. As soon as the accident happened, I slowed right up and raised my hand and was expecting it to be red flagged immediately. I’m not sure what the outcome is at present so we’ll just have to wait and see but when a fellow rider is injured, the result isn’t the be all and end all.”

“I was lacking a bit of acceleration but all the other bikes have been working really well and I couldn’t have been happier with the first lap on the 600. I got stuck in just as I wanted to but I dropped off the pace a little bit so I need to work hard to maintain that throughout the race distance. I’m in the ball park with both the Superbike and Superstock races too so I’m looking forward now to Saturday’s races and some good results.”

James has five races on Saturday with the roads closing at 9.15am. The second six-lap Supersport race gets the day underway.