NW200: Richard Cooper puts down marker in Supertwin practice on Ryan Farquhar's KMR Kawasaki

The Nottingham rider is looking to make amends this year after he was disqualified from the results in 2022 due to a technical infringement, with Cooper denied his maiden victories at the event.

He teamed up with former Supertwin winner Farquhar after his plans to ride a Yamaha R7 for Michael Rutter failed to come to fruition, with the machine not quite ready in time.

Cooper lapped at 111.723mph to lead three-time winner Jeremy McWilliams (Bayview Hotel Paton) by 3.4s, with Magherafelt’s Paul Jordan – a runner-up in the class last year – third on the PreZ Racing Kawasaki with a speed of 108.8mph, 7.7s down on Cooper.

Adam McLean, riding a Farquhar-prepared Kawasaki for the Banbridge-based J McC Roofing team, was fourth fastest (108.503mph) ahead of Cookstown 100 Supertwin race winner Michael Dunlop on the McAdoo Kawasaki (107.924mph).

Lee Johnston was sixth quickest on the Ashcourt Racing Aprilia. The British Supersport Championship leader is a former winner in the class at the North West, sealing his first wins at the event with a double in 2014.

Irish Supertwin champion Michael Sweeney slotted into seventh with a speed of 107.42mph as he rode the Team ILR/Frog Racing Paton on the roads for the first time.