NW200: Glenn Irwin primed for final Superbike qualifying after Tuesday problems

​Glenn Irwin will be hoping to climb the Superbike order in final qualifying at the fonaCAB and Nicholl Oils North West 200 on Thursday after struggling with handling issues in opening practice.
Kyle White
By Kyle White
Published 11th May 2023, 06:00 BST
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The Carrickfergus man was left ‘frustrated’ by a lack of track time on the BeerMonster Ducati after the first session was cut by 15 minutes to a half-hour stint following earlier delays on Tuesday, including oil spills on the course.

Irwin has won the last six Superbike races at the North West and secured pole in qualifying in 2018, 2019 and again last year, when he clinched a double on the Honda Racing UK Fireblade.

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The 33-year-old arrived at his home road race in red-hot form this week after moving into the lead of the British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park on bank holiday Monday, where Irwin won the final race for his second triumph of the season on the Panigale V4R.

Glenn Irwin will be out to capitalise in today's final Superbike qualifying session at the North West 200 after experiencing handling issues on TuesdayGlenn Irwin will be out to capitalise in today's final Superbike qualifying session at the North West 200 after experiencing handling issues on Tuesday
Glenn Irwin will be out to capitalise in today's final Superbike qualifying session at the North West 200 after experiencing handling issues on Tuesday

He is only competing in the Superbike class this year at the NW200 and won’t be in race action on Thursday evening, when the first Supersport, Superstock and Supertwin races are scheduled on the north coast.

Both Superbike races, which will be run over six laps, will be held on Saturday and Irwin says he will be doing all he can to give himself the best possible chance of extending his unbeaten run in the class.

Irwin, eighth fastest on Tuesday and 8.4 seconds down on Michael Dunlop’s provisional pole lap of 122.943mph, said: “[Tuesday] wasn’t ideal as the Superbike session was reduced down to just 30 minutes, which didn’t give us a long enough to make the set-up changes we needed to.

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“It’s frustrating as I understand there will be delays due to the nature of the course, but unlike most other riders I only have the Superbike, so we need as many laps and as much time as we can on the bike.

“We will work with the data we have and hope the weather holds, and that we can get the laps we missed in on Thursday.”

His goal is to edge closer to the all-time record of Superbike victories at the North West, held jointly by Joey Dunlop and Michael Rutter with nine wins each.

Roads close from 9.15am until 3.15pm for final qualifying and again from 5pm to 9pm for racing.

Related topics:North WestCarrickfergus