By Hebden Bridge’s Jamie Coward sprung for some a big surprise, by heading this afternoon’s opening Super Twins qualifying session, of the 2019 FonaCAB International North West 200 In Association With Nicholl Oils.
Coward, competing under the KTS Racing banner, lap time of 4 minutes 57.829 seconds gave him an advantage of 0.2 of a second, over NW200 legend Michael Rutter (4.58.029), at the helm of the Q1 results sheet.
Photo by Rod Neill
Photo by Road Racing Daily
Finishing third quickest, nine tenths down on Rutter was former 250 NW200 champ Christian Elkin (4.58.931), who reminded everyone of his unquestioned capabilities on the fast, flowing, technical Triangle course.
On his return to tackling Twin machinery, Glenn Irwin (4.59.063) finished a very creditable fourth fastest in front of the likes of Jeremy McWilliams (5.00.442), Stefano Bonetti (5.00.805) and reigning Duke Road Race Rankings champion Derek McGee (5.01.587).
Concluding the ten quickest twin machinery exponents from today, behind the respective fifth, sixth, seventh trio of McWilliams, Bonetti and McGee, were lead Paton challenger Horst Saiger (5.04.077), Michael Sweeney (5.05.328) and impressive event debutant Carl Phillips (5.08.372).
Fellow Triangle course debutant Francesco Curinga, Spain’s Victor Lopez Santos, impressed in finishing respectively 11th, 12th quickest, as did 13th fastest, NW200 stalwart Marty Lennon.
The highly anticipated International road race debut of Norton’s striking new Lightweight model, didn’t go it’s fair to say fully to plan, as John McGuinness finished down in 20th place on the times sheet.
North West 200: Super Twins Q1 results, are as follows:
1 Jamie Coward 4.57.829
2 Michael Rutter 4.58.029
3 Christian Elkin 4.58.931
4 Glenn Irwin 4.59.063
5 Jeremy McWilliams 5.00.442
6 Stefano Bonetti 5.00.805
7 Derek McGee 5.01.587
8 Horst Saiger 5.04.077
9 Michael Sweeney 5.05.328
10 Carl Phillips 5.08.372
11 Francesco Curinga 5.08.961
12 Victor Lopez Santos 5.09.042
13 Marty Lennon 5.10.388
14 James Chawke 5.12.029
15 Xavier Denis 5.13.012
16 Neil Kernohan 5.13.999
17 Matt Rees 5.15.568
18 Darren Cooper 5.15.680
19 Joe Loughlin 5.16.375
20 John McGuinness 5.18.792
21 Matt Sadowski 5.19.007
22 Maria Costello MBE 5.21.971
23 Steven Horne 5.22.787
24 Garth Woods 5.23.320
25 Bruce Birnie 5.23.605
26 Darryl Tweed 5.26.779
27 Ryan Gibson 5.28.991
28 William Hara 5.31.758
29 Mark Shields 5.45.819
30 Sandy Berwick 5.49.644
31 Darren James 7.12.657
Words by Stevie Rial
