By Finishing overall just 0.005 of a second behind EHA Racing’s Alastair Seeley, Ashcourt Racing’s Lee Johnston set a rapid pace in today’s second Supersport qualifying session.
Johnston, who’s impressed in the opening rounds of the British Supersport Championship, leading lap time from Q2 of 4 minutes 37.078, as showcased above almost proved just enough to him pole position for this evening’s opening Supersport race.
Photo by Road Racing Daily
Leading the challenge to Johnston in Q2 was his good friend, Oliver’s Mount lap record holder Dean Harrison.
Harrison (4.38.177), considered amongst the prime favourites for feature Superbike honours, is most definitely as well a strong contender for Supersport victories, same applies to overall fourth quickest, fellow ZX-6R Kawasaki mounted competitor, James Hillier (4.38.186).
Fifth, sixth quickest respectively behind Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings Kawasaki’s Hillier, were Peter Hickman (4.38.406) aboard the distinctive TROOPER Triumph and class legend Michael Dunlop (4.38.734).
Derek McGee (4.38.939) jumped up to seventh on the overall time sheets, whilst the remainder of the top ten overall qualifiers also set personal best lap times in Q2, with Paul Jordan (4.39.813), Davey Todd (4.40.528) and 16 times TT winner Ian Hutchinson (4.41.041), respectively finishing eighth, ninth, tenth fastest.
A session that showcased in full the sheer competitiveness of the Supersport class, also involved unfortunately the red flags twice entering the horizon.
At the start of the session, there was an incident on the run up to Ballysally Roundabout, then towards the conclusion of the restarted timed Supersport practice session, an incident was reported to have happened at Magherabuoy chicane, bringing the red flags out again.
North West 200: Overall Supersport qualifying results, are as follows:
1 Alastair Seeley 4.37.078
2 Lee Johnston 4.37.078
3 Dean Harrison 4.38.177
4 James Hillier 4.38.186
5 Peter Hickman 4.38.406
6 Michael Dunlop 4.38.734
7 Derek McGee 4.38.939
8 Paul Jordan 4.39.813
9 Davey Todd 4.40.528
10 Ian Hutchinson 4.41.041
11 Conor Cummins 4.41.625
12 Jamie Coward 4.42.038
13 Gary Johnson 4.44.908
14 David Johnson 4.45.669
15 Michael Sweeney 4.45.854
16 Daley Mathison 4.46.044
17 Craig Neve 4.46.663
18 Pierre Yves Bian 4.47.089
19 Christian Elkin 4.47.491
20 Nathan Harrison 4.48.621
21 Horst Saiger 4.49.725
22 Joe Loughlin 4.52.211
23 Victor Lopez Santos 4.52.592
24 Tom Weeden 4.53.246
25 Dominic Herbertson 4.53.720
26 Darren Cooper 4.54.353
27 Xavier Denis 4.54.991
28 Kris Duncan 4.56.222
29 Matt Rees 4.56.429
30 Francesco Curinga 4.56.472
31 Darryl Tweed 4.56.911
32 Neil Kernohan 4.57.332
33 Paul Williams 4.59.610
34 Marty Lennon 4.59.833
35 Ryan Gibson 5.10.134
36 Alan Johnston 5.11.593
37 David Murphy 5.12.372
38 Stephen Degnan 5.13.016
39 Michael Rees 5.13.443
40 Steven Horne 5.14.814
41 Paul Mackey 5.19.971
42 Patricia Fernandez 5.20.606
43 Ramon Basomba 5.20.712
Words by Stevie Rial
