North West 200 rider hospitalised after Supersport qualifying red flag

A North West 200 rider has been hospitalised after crashing during the Supersport qualifying session on Thursday evening.

The Supersport machines that were leading on the road when the session was stopped had completed three laps. The incident occurred in the Whins area of Portrush, which is between Church and Black Hill on the circuit layout, and brought out the red flags which ultimately brought an early end to what was the final qualifying session of Thursday.

The rider involved in the incident has not been named by the North West 200, but the road racing event confirmed in a statement that the rider had been taken to hospital in Belfast.

“The Supersport session was red flagged after the first machines on the road had completed three laps,” reads the statement from the North West 200, reported by the Belfast News Letter.

“The competitor who was involved in the incident at the Whins area of Portrush was taken to the Royal Victoria hospital, Belfast by ambulance.”

Qualifying for all four classes had been postponed until Thursday evening, having been originally due to take place in the morning, after a rider died in an incident that happened during the opening laps of the Superbike qualifying session. 

The delayed qualifying sessions saw Dean Harrison top Superbike qualifying, Alastair Seeley go fastest in Supersport, Peter Hickman set the best time in Supertwin, and Michael Dunlop head the Superstock times.

The 2026 North West 200 is due to continue on Saturday (9 May) with six races scheduled: two Supertwin races, two Superbike races, and a race each for Supersport and Superstock.

At the time of writing, the schedule has not yet been updated to accommodate any of the three races – one each for Superbike, Superstock, and Supersport – that were cancelled on Thursday as a result of the delays to qualifying.