NW200: Thursday qualifying curtailed after red flag stoppage - decision expected on evening race schedule
Thursday’s daytime practice schedule at the North West 200 was curtailed following a red flag incident in Superbike qualifying in the morning.
The session was stopped at 10:20 BST, with an initial delay of 45 minutes announced by Race Control. A further delay of one hour followed before a third delay of 90 minutes was confirmed at 12:16 BST.
No further qualifying took place on Thursday afternoon, with the roads due to open by 15:00 BST.
The event organisers have not provided any official details regarding the incident.
Roads are scheduled to close again around the course at 16:45 BST for a planned three-race programme.
However, the schedule may be changed to accommodate qualifying after competitors only managed a maximum of four laps on Thursday morning.
Honda Racing’s Dean Harrison was leading the Superbike session from Glenn Irwin (Nitrous Competitions Racing Ducati) when the stoppage occurred.
In perfect conditions around the 8.9-mile course, Harrison recorded the fastest lap of the week so far at 123.12mph before the red flag went out.
Irwin was 2.913s slower in second place after lapping at 121.767mph with Peter Hickman third fastest (Monster BMW Motorrad) from Wednesday pacesetter Richard Cooper (SMS/Nicholl Oils BMW).