Following the tragic incident during Thursday morning’s qualifying session, the final qualifying sessions at the 2026 Briggs Equipment North West 200 were shortened to 30 minutes for each class and run during the evening.
The Superbikes were first away with Honda’s Dean Harrison taking pole position for Saturday’s feature races after posting the quickest time on his Honda Racing Fireblade. Chasing his first victory on the north coast, the Bradford man was 2.32 seconds faster than 11 times North West winner, Glenn Irwin on the Nitrous Competitions Ducati.
Richard Cooper steered his SMS/Nicholl Oils BMW on to the front row, almost two seconds slower than Irwin.
Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda) was less than half a second behind Cooper with local favourite Michael Dunlop (Hawk Racing Honda) and Storm Stacey (AJN Racing Ducati) completing the top six as they lapped within just 0.101 second of one another.
The Supertwin/ Sportbike machines were up next with Peter Hickman claiming pole on the Swan Racing/PHR Yamaha with a time of 4min 50.266 seconds. Second fastest was last year’s winner in the class, Paul Jordan (Jackson Racing/Prosper 2 Aprilia), just over a second slower. Veteran Jeremy McWilliams completed the front row on the Flitwick/SMV Aprilia, 0.631 seconds behind.
Alastair Seeley impressed on his Binch Pro/ 3B Construction Aprilia, claiming fourth spot with a time of 4 min 55.041 secs, 2.6 seconds ahead of Michael Sweeney (MSR Aprilia) with Jamie Coward completing the top six on the Milenco Padgetts Paton.
Michael Dunlop had the local fans on their feet as he steered his MD Racing BMW to pole position in a time of 4 min 23.441 in the Superstock division. Richard Cooper was 0.404 seconds slower on the SMS Nicholl Oils BMW and less than half a second faster than Honda Racing’s Dean Harrison. Newcomer Storm Stacey continued to impress around the Triangle course on his CD Racing by MSS Performance/ Alpha Racing BMW, lapping3.383 seconds behind Harrison and 0.891 seconds ahead of Josh Brookes (Dao Racing Honda). Paul Jordan completed the top six on his Jackson Racing/Prosper 2 Honda.
The Supersport session was red flagged after the first machines on the road had completed three laps. The competitor who was involved in the incident at the Whins area of Portrush was taken to the Royal Victoria hospital, Belfast by ambulance.
Alastair Seeley (Binch Pro Racing/ 3B Ducati) set fastest time in class at 4 min 38.608 seconds. Michael Dunlop (Scars/MD Racing Ducati) was just 0.366 secs slower with Dean Harrison (Honda Racing) third fastest ahead ofErno Kostamo (Zero Waste Motorsport Ducat).
Ian Hutchinson (Burrows Engineering RK Racing Ducati) and Paul Jordan (Jackson Racing Prosper 2 Ducati) completed the top six in the class.