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Triumph and McGuinness equals pole at North West 200

John McGuinness - one of two men drafted into the Triumph ValMoto squad for
its assault on the UK's two major public roads racing events - repaid the
confidence of team manager Jack Valentine by recording the fastest lap in
qualifying for this year's North West 200 Supersport 600 races. His average
speed of 113.362mph was exactly the same as that of road racing specialist
Ian Lougher, although pole position was eventually awarded to the Honda
rider because his second-best time was better than McGuinness' second-best
time.

Triumph ValMoto's regular rider Jim Moodie added to the general air of
confidence surrounding the team by clocking a 112.650 mph lap to claim
fourth place on the grid for Saturday's races. Bruce Anstey completed the
successful trio of Triumph ValMoto Daytona 600s by putting in a 110.241mph
lap and secured himself a tenth place start.

Interestingly, the only time that McGuinness had previously sat on the bike
that enabled him to equal the fastest time of the day was during a brief
test session at Oulton Park last month. It makes his achievement at the
North West all the more significant. "I knew that missing Tuesday's
practice wouldn't matter if the weather cleared for the second session,"
said McGuinness. "It [the session] just went even better than I could have
expected. It's a bit of shame that they awarded pole to Lougher because it
would have been great for Triumph but the team is really happy that we've
got the joint fastest lap so far, two bikes on the front row, and three in
the top ten."

Moodie was also pleased with the way the Triumph ValMoto Daytona 600 was
performing on the roads. "I'm really glad that it stopped raining,"
admitted the North West veteran. "It wouldn't have been a problem in the
wet but it's
much more enjoyable when you can push the bike a bit. A front row start is
really good for the whole team and I'm very happy with the bike - neither
John nor myself need make any changes to it at all. If it stays dry, we're
in for a good race."

Anstey has been away from competition for 10 months but was still able to
qualify on the third row of the grid. Flanked by such road racing
luminaries as Ducati's Michael Rutter (ninth) and Suzuki's Davis Jefferies
(eleventh)
he is expecting to improve on his tenth place qualifying position during
the race. "I'm still fairly ring rusty," he admitted. "It's taking me a bit
of time to get used to riding a bike fast again and Tuesday's wet session
didn't really count. A couple of laps in and I'll be back into my rhythm,
plus I know my way around the circuit pretty well so I reckon I'll go
pretty good in the race."

"I'm over the moon with all three Triumph ValMoto riders' performances,"
commented Valentine, who is no stranger to success on the roads. "I
understand the decision to award pole to Lougher, but it's great that one
of our bikes is currently the joint fastest bike here. The North West 200
is an excellent event and this year we'll hopefully be taking the 600
trophy away with us. To have a Triumph - or even more than one - on the
podium after all these years would be a dream come true for the entire
team."

Qualifying times:
1. I. Lougher (Honda) 113.362mph
2. J. McGuinness (Triumph ValMoto) 113.362mph
3. A. Archibald (Suzuki) 113.092mph
4. J. Moodie (Triumph ValMoto) 112.650mph
5. K. Nicholls (Honda) 112.289mph
6. R. Farquhar (Kawasaki) 111.375mph
7. C. Ramsay (Honda) 111.160mph
8. R. Rainey (Honda) 110.302mph
9. M. Rutter (Ducati) 110.257mph
10. B. Anstey (Triumph ValMoto) 110.241mph

Jack "Rude Dog" Hays
972-952-5065
"I'll see you on the Dark Side of the Moon"



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