Bruce Anstey's affinity with the Dundrod circuit and Ulster GP meeting has showed no signs of coming to an end this week and despite only having half a day's testing at Mallory Park since the Isle of Man TT, the Kiwi was well to the fore in all of the qualifying sessions on Thursday.

But the Valvoline Padgetts rider, who is also the lap record holder, has opted to run his Honda RC213V-S with the electronic aids turned off and the bike is working well, especially in the fast turns.

Having finished on the podium at least once a year since making his debut at the event in 2003, the Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Honda rider is keen to maintain that streak and now back to full fitness after his spills at the North West 200 and TT, he took an excellent pole position for Saturday's two Supersport 600cc races as well as third for the Superbike encounters.

Anstey has won the feature Ulster GP Superbike race for the last two years and has a new challenge this time around with the RCV-213S MotoGP replica bike. Quickest through the speed trap at 196.3mph during qualifying, the 47-year old lapped at 131.603mph in the shortened Dundrod 150 Superbike race and is well placed for Saturday's racing.

"I’ve had a good day and to get pole on the 600 is a great bonus," Anstey told bikesportnews.com. "We haven’t changed anything on the bike and I had a good run during the session but I could see the weather was closing in a bit so got my head down from the start and managed to reel off a succession of quick laps. I didn’t want to get caught in any traffic and with the rain coming in, it all worked out perfectly.

“The RCV’s still work in progress and Clive’s made a few changes to the bike since the TT whilst we had a few little problems with the electronics during the sessions as they didn’t seem to like the ups and downs of the course. It kept resetting itself so I’ve turned everything off now and it’s working really well through the fast stuff and I’ve been able to build up my speed each and every lap.

“It was a shame the Dundrod 150 race got red flagged as I’d just set my fastest lap on the bike and we were fighting it out for the lead but it showed the pace of the bike and we should be there or thereabouts come race day.”