Rutter tops North West 200 qualifying

BSB star Michael Rutter took his Renegade Ducati to first place in Thursday’s NW200 evening practice session with a 4:33.07 lap averaging 118.203mph, over 15 mph faster than the fastest lap on Tuseday.

The session saw the kind of action people expect from the Irish road races. The weather had improved considerably from the torrential rain we saw on Tuesday but the wind was still gusting.

The Superbike practice saw times and speeds improve considerably with all the riders spending considerably more time out on the road.

Following closely behind Rutter were Adrian Archibald on the TAS Suzuki GSX-R1000, John McGuinness on a Ducati 999, and Rutter’s BSB rival Steve Plater on his Honda Racing SP2.

The next six riders all finished within a second of each other but seven seconds down on Rutter. David Jefferies was down in sixth place on 4:41.05, with Ryan Farquhar in eighth and Tuesday’s pace setter Richard Britton in ninth.

In the production class practice Rutter was further down, the field in seventh place on his Ducati 999. Archibald took the top spot on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 with a 4:34.51, and an average speed of 117.583.

Jefferies took second place followed by Ryan Farquhar, Stephen Thompson, Alex Donaldson and Bruce Anstey all on GSX-R1000s.

In the 600 class Ian Lougher took top spot on a Honda CBR600RR finishing the lap in 4:44.73 and the Triumph Valmoto British Supersport team did well with John McGuinness in second with an identical time to Lougher. Team-mate Jim Moodie was just two seconds behind in fourth. Archibald on his TAS Suzuki GSX-R600 separated the two Triumph Daytona riders.

Ryan Farquhar finished sixth fastest on a Kawasaki ZX-6R, with Michael Rutter in ninth on a Ducati 748, Bruce Anstey 10th on a Daytona 600, and David Jefferies 11th on a GSXR-600.

All the racing takes place on Saturday with the roads closing in preparation at 11am so check back regularly for the full results.

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