Glenn Irwin delighted the home crowd at the North West 200 yesterday afternoon when he claimed his first ever pole position around the 8.9-mile circuit for Saturday's two Superbike races.

The Be Wiser Ducati rider put in two laps in excess of 122mph towards the end of the session, the fastest of which was 122.454mph, whilst he also completed more laps, 11, than any other rider.

“It’s great to achieve my first ever NW200 pole position especially as the changes we made to the bike didn’t work in the way that I’d hoped,” Irwin told bikesportnews.com. “It made the bike more difficult to ride but if we can be fast when we’ve gone in the wrong direction, it bodes well for when we go in the right direction.

“We now have a clear direction to work in and what was also pleasing today was that my fast lap was done on a used tyre. I did two fast laps and although I wasn’t pushing over the limit, I did make a few mistakes so I think there’s a bit more to come.”

Irwin wasn’t racing on Thursday evening so chose to watch the action instead from the Juniper Chicane which whetted his appetite even further for Saturday.

“Watching the action from Juniper and seeing the boys out on track has certainly got me buzzing for Saturday and I’d love nothing more than taking two Superbike wins. The team are keeping me grounded though so we’ll keep working hard and hopefully my pole today has lifted the spirits of everyone connected with the team after hearing of Shakey’s accident at Snetterton.”