NW200: Richard Cooper claims pole on Ryan Farquhar's KMR Kawasaki for Supertwin races from Adam McLean

No Supertwin qualifying session was held on Wednesday after the organisers ran out of time following delays because of oil contamination on the course and a crash in Supersport qualifying.

However, in glorious conditions again on the north coast, a one-hour Supertwin session was held on Thursday morning, with Nottingham’s Cooper sealing the top spot with a lap of 111.998mph.

Cooper was only 0.754s ahead of Ulsterman Adam McLean, who clocked 111.706mph on the Flitwick Motorcycles/SMV Yamaha.

Fellow Northern Ireland rider Paul Jordan was third on the Jackson Racing Aprilia (109.721mph) ahead of Peter Hickman (Swan Yamaha), who was a double winner in the class over Cooper 12 months ago.

Three-time winner Jeremy McWilliams secured fifth on the grid on the J McC Racing Aprilia ahead of Republic of Ireland rider Michael Sweeney (MSR Aprilia).

Yorkshire’s Jamie Coward, competing at the North West after a three-year absence, was seventh quickest on the KTS Racing powered by Stanley Stewart Kawasaki.

The evergreen Michael Rutter, a 14-time NW200 winner, rounded out the top eight on his Bathams AJN Racing Yamaha.

SUPERTWIN TIMES

1 Richard Cooper (Kawasaki) 111.998mph

2 Adam McLean (Yamaha) 111.706mph

3 Paul Jordan (Aprilia) 109.721mph

4 Peter Hickman (Yamaha) 109.230mph

5 Jeremy McWilliams (Aprilia) 109.032mph

6 Michael Sweeney (Aprilia) 108.882mph

7 Jamie Coward (Kawasaki) 108.596mph

8 Michael Rutter (Aprilia) 107.839mph

9 Pierre Yves Bian (Paton) 106.789mph

10 A J Venter (Kawasaki) 106.255mph