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Well the second qualifying session has just finished. We’ve had a good day, bar the incident at the start of the session involving MSS Colchester Kawasaki team mates Stuart Easton and Gary Mason. Although Stuart Easton has suffered a serious leg and hip break, initial fears were that the injuries suffered, were a lot worse. We wish him a speedy recovery. Gary Mason went to hospital for a check-up but thankfully he is ok.

Once qualifying resumed it was fast and furious. Alastair Seeley continued his dominance topping the timesheets in the Supersport and Superstock class and probably might have topped the Superbike session as well, only for fuelling problems with his Relentless Suzuki by Tas Racing machine to halt the Carrick man's progress. The team spent the full one hour Superbike session trying to get to the root of the problem but failed and they will have their work cut out ensuring the bike is up and running for Saturday.

Another local man on form today was Michael Dunlop, who finished second in the Superstock class and third in both the Superbike and Supersport. His aggressive riding style certainly was bringing him to the fore in qualifying and his confidence will be high going into Saturday. Michael’s brother William seems to have stepped up a gear around the North West circuit. Now that William has got very competitive machinery and highly regarded Moto GP suspension technician Graeme Irvine on his team I think he could be a serious contender for the podiums on Saturday.

Guy Martin appeared not to be in talkative form today. He was very focused on the job in hand and we can only hope he has an early success on Saturday and that brings him round to the usual, jovial Guy, full of quips that we all know and love.

Other riders that performed notably well in qualifying were Gary Johnson, Lee Johnston, Cameron Donald, Michael Rutter and his team mate Martin Jessop. As for the newcomers; British superbike rider Simon Andrews really shone in qualifying in tenth position in the Superbike class, whilst local lads Kirk Jamison and Jamie Hamilton also performed strongly.

Now our thoughts turn to race day and who is going to come out on top? It is hard to see past Alastair Seeley given his form. However, I think whatever races he doesn’t win, Michael Dunlop could pick up. Of course it’s never easy to pick a winner at the NW200 but the last time Michael Rutter won round here, he was riding this bike, but in the North West 200 coloursÌý – could this be an omen? Other contenders include Cameron Donald, Gary Johnson and if it was to be wet Dungannon’s Ryan Farquhar could take the spoils.

Just finally – could this be the year that Â鶹Éç correspondent Phillip McCallen’s record of five wins in a day is finally matched???