North West 200 qualifying: Harrison takes Superbike pole after sombre Thursday

NorthWest 200 Qualifying

Thursday proved to be a sombre day at the North West 200. Sadly, a competitor lost his life during the day’s opening Superbike practice session when they crashed at Station Corner. The NW 200 released a statement in the late afternoon, saying that the rider’s family had given their blessing for the event to continue, but had requested that his name not be released for now. There has been some speculation on social media, but we’ll refrain from paying tribute until the official channels announce the name. We offer our condolences to the rider’s family and friends.

Qualifying during the day followed by three evening races had been the original plan, but that fell by the wayside after the incident. The course remained closed for most of the day as the event organisers periodically announced further delays, with spectators held in place at the trackside. Eventually, the 15:30 road open time came upon us, and the circuit returned to everyday traffic for a short time.

As only a handful of SBK laps were completed in the morning, much of the field had failed to qualify after Wednesday’s bad weather had also caused disruption, leaving question marks hanging over how the event could move forward. It was at this time that a second bulletin advised that the evening’s racing would be replaced by the qualifying programme, which should have taken place during the day. The roads closed again at 16:45, with fans frantically scrambling to return to their positions.

Michael Dunlop building pace on the Triangle.

In bright and fresh conditions, a full SBK session kicked things off, and it didn’t disappoint. All the big-name riders spent lots of time out on track, keen to ensure they qualified.

Dean Harrison was the man who eventually came out on top, securing pole with a lap of 4m 19.165; over 2 seconds faster than Glenn Irwin in 2nd place. It was a highly impressive performance from the Honda racing star and really laid down a marker for Saturday’s big races.

Glenn Irwin and Ducati remain a formidable North West 200 combination.

Irwin was visibly trying hard as he negotiated the 8.9-mile circuit this evening, and so the gap to Harrison’s time is somewhat surprising. But Irwin doesn’t yet seem comfortable on the new Ducati Panigale V4 R, whereas Harrison has a couple of years’ experience on the Fireblade and seemed to be on rails. Sometimes the harder you try, the slower you go.

Behind them came Richard Cooper in 3rd, ahead of Josh Brookes in 4th. Brookes has looked much more settled at this year’s event than he did during the 2025 edition, and so don’t be surprised if he’s right in the hunt for victory come race day. Michael Dunlop and Storm Stacey completed the top six.

Peter Hickman stretches the Yamaha YZF-R7 away from the corner, the Supertwin machinery adding a very different soundtrack to the Triangle.

Next up was the Supertwin/ Sportsbike class. In this one, it was Peter Hickman who headed the pack on his £70,000 all-yellow Swan Yamaha R7. It was Hickman’s best performance of the week so far, and it’s always surprising how well he goes on the little bike, given his size.

Hickman’s time of 4m:50.266 was just over a second faster than 2025 race winner, Paul Jordan, on the Jackson racing Aprilia. Wednesday’s provisional pole man, Jeremy McWilliams, came in 3rd on another Yamaha, just 0.6s off Jordan’s pace.

Alastair Seeley (Aprilia) finished up 4th, posting a time of 4m 55.041, which was around 3s off the speeds set by the front 3. Michael Sweeney (Aprilia) and Jamie Coward (Paton) rounded out the rest of the leaderboard.

Jeremy McWilliams showed there is still plenty of bite in the veteran, the Yamaha YZF-R7 cranked over and skimming the ripple strip.

At this stage, we were rattling through the sessions at quite a swift pace, and although the temperature had dropped, the dreaded rain that had been forecast had so far stayed away, despite some dark, murky clouds blowing their way towards the circuit from the Donegal area, across the bay.

The stockers were out next, and again we saw the star riders stay out as much as possible, keen to maximise track time and ensure qualification. It was Michael Dunlop who made the most of the session, sticking his BMW on pole. The Ballymoney man really looked at home on the bike- the same one he won the Thursday evening stock race this time last year on. While he experienced some setup issues with the machine at the TT in 2025, it now very much looks like ‘his’ bike.

Richard Cooper on another M1000RR was 2nd fastest, ahead of Dean Harrison on the Honda. Storm Stacey (BMW) posted a time worthy of 4th in the standings, and it’s become clear as the week has progressed that the debutant wasn’t lying when he said he was a fast learner. Brookes (Honda) squeezed into 5th, just a whisker faster than his ex-teammate, Paul Jordan (Honda).

Peter Hickman had experienced a brake issue and pulled into the pits to have it looked at. However, when he raced back out in hopes of banking a fast lap, he encountered heavy rain on the run into Coleraine and on the approach to the roundabout. It scuppered any chance he had of troubling the leaderboard and left him languishing in 60th position. However, he reckons that because we’ve now had a ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ sessions, that grid positions should be allocated based on positions from both sessions and that his position in yesterday’s stock practice session should keep him in the top 6. There seemed to be some uncertainty about this, so we’ll have to wait and see on Saturday how things pan out.

You get the impression that there might be grounds for some more unwanted controversy come Saturday, if the TT lap record holder doesn’t get his way on this.

As another quick-fire half-hour session came to a close, it was time for the Supersport bikes. But this one only lasted a handful of laps before the red flags came out. An uncomfortably familiar feeling swept over the crowd. After all that had gone on earlier in the day, the fans, marshals and competitors were desperate for some good news.

With the sun setting and a cold chill setting in, it was obvious that practice was over for the evening. But we were held in our positions for quite some time as first responders made their way to the Dhuvarren area of the circuit to attend the ‘racing incident’. After what seemed like an eternity, the roads were eventually reopened, and it was announced that the rider involved had broken his leg and had been taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. There was an audible sigh of relief as the news was relayed around the circuit.

For what it’s worth, the times that were posted over the couple of laps that were completed saw Alastair Seeley quickest ahead of Michael Dunlop, with Dean Harrison 3rd. Erno Kostamo, Ian Hutchinson and Paul Jordan made up the top 6, meaning all but Harrison on the Honda were Ducati-mounted. Josh Brookes was seventh on a GSX-R750.

It remains to be seen whether they will move any of the scheduled Thursday races onto Saturday at this point; expect news of that on Friday. I’d imagine the smart money is on the three Thursday races being scrapped, with Saturday’s programme running as planned without any alterations. That will all be decided at a meeting held on Friday morning.

Friday brings a welcome rest day, giving all involved a chance to get their bearings after two long, trying, emotionally charged days.

Saturday’s forecast calls for wall-to-wall sunshine all day, and that might just be the tonic the event needs to get properly up and running this year. A good, solid, and safe day’s racing would be very much welcomed by all.

2026 North West 200 Combined Qualifying Results

Combined best qualifying laps across Wednesday and Thursday sessions. Behind column is recalculated to the fastest combined lap in each class. Lap mph is the official average speed for the rider’s best lap; Trap mph is the rider’s fastest speed-trap figure recorded on the approach to University.

NW200 Superbike Qualifying Times

NW200 Supersport Qualifying Times

NW200 Superstock Qualifying Times

NW200 Supertwin / Sportbike Qualifying Times