Peter Hickman sets pace in disrupted qualifying session at North West 200
The qualifying sessions were stopped twice by red flags because of oil spills on the course, while an incident resulted in two riders being taken to hospital, one by air ambulance, for non-life threatening injuries.
The delays meant the organisers ran out of time to run the planned Superstock and Supertwin sessions.
A revised schedule has been put in place for Thursday (roads closed 9am-3pm), with Supertwin riders out first, followed by Superstock, Supersport and Superbike sessions ahead of the evening's three-race schedule (roads closed 4:45pm-9pm).
Burton-on-Trent rider Hickman has never won a Superbike race at the event but faces formidable opposition, with Honda Racing's Dean Harrison hot on his tail with a lap of 121.385mph, only eight tenths slower that his BMW rival.
Carrickfergus man Alastair Seeley, the most successful rider around the Triangle course with 29 wins, impressed on his return after the 45-year-old missed last year's meeting.
Seeley lapped at 121.003mph on the SMS/Nicholl Oils BMW as he ended the day 1.5s off Hickman's benchmark.
Seeley is on the cusp of a magical 30th victory and wasted no time in showing why he has been so successful on the big stage in Portrush.
'It was a shock to the system, back up to 202mph on my first flying lap, so 200mph on your first lap is not a good way to get the brain calibrated!' said Seeley.
'It's just a bit dusty and a few stones about, so I tried to stay out of the way and didn't want any stones through the radiator and damaging the bike, so I held back a bit.
'I found a bit of clear track and started to do my own thing and was building it up, then I came across a few backmarkers there. It's just trying to get the brain back into the track.
'The bike was here before so it knows its way around and it's just a matter of getting used to it again and getting the brain up to speed, getting used to the tarmac and the bumps.'
Magherafelt man Paul Jordan caught the eye in fourth position on the Jackson Racing Honda.
Jordan was close to his personal best lap time, recording a speed of 120.6523mph.
'I'm quite surprised because I didn't actually know I was fourth there and I think we're not far off my personal best around here already,' Jordan said.
'The track is pretty green, and dusty and stony, so we're just feeling our way in and I'm just enjoying myself.
'The Jackson team by Prosper2 have put an amazing bike under me and I'm really grateful I'm in this position. We've put a hard winter in and I really hope it pays off.'
Michael Dunlop did three laps on his new Hawk Racing BMW to go seventh, but there was disappointment for fellow top protagonist Davey Todd, who failed to squeeze in a fast lap after running into brake problems with his 8TEN Racing BMW.
In a short Supersport session, restarted after the red flag incident at Mill Road roundabout, Richard Cooper quickly asserted himself on the BPE/Russell Racing Yamaha with a lap of 116.795mph.
Harrison was just 0.047s down in second with Dunlop third on his newly unveiled Milwaukee Ducati.
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