Quattro Plant Muc-Off Kawasaki rider James Hillier enjoyed a strong day’s racing at the International North West 200 road races on Saturday overcoming difficult weather conditions to post two top eight finishes.

The 8.9-mile circuit was hit by strong winds and with heavy showers mixed in with sunny weather, it caused numerous delays to the race schedule and the day didn’t get off to the greatest of starts when the first Superstock race was cancelled after two attempts to run it were aborted due to red flag incidents.

The Supersport race did take place over its full six lap distance though and James was running strongly inside the top six for the first half of the race, just behind TT legend John McGuinness. On lap four though, a rain shower hit a small section of the course and with caution exercised over valour, James eased his pace, which allowed Keith Amor and Dean Harrison to overhaul him and McGuinness although eighth place was still a fine result.

After such a strong opening race, a small problem with the Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike on the warm up lap saw James pushed off the grid and with race organisers wanting him to start from the very back of the grid, rather than at the back of the first group, the team decided to opt out of the race on safety grounds.

The second Superstock race was again delayed by a rain shower but when it got underway, James was immediately running inside the top ten and enjoying a good battle with Scots ace Amor and Conor Cummins. The trio soon found themselves battling for seventh place and it was James who prevailed for yet another excellent road race result.

With the strong winds increasing to some 40mph and with the time already way past 7pm, race organisers opted to cancel the feature Superbike race and bring what had been a difficult day for all concerned to an end.

James Hillier: “It’s been a bit of an up and down day with the weather and not easy for anyone but we’re in a lot better place than where we were when we arrived and have achieved exactly what we wanted to achieve. We’ve made good progress with all of the bikes, especially the Superbike which feels really good through the fast corners. It was a shame we didn’t get to race it today but starting right from the back of 50 plus riders wouldn’t have been safe.”

“The little 600, like Thursday, gave me another really good ride and is working well so we’re well placed there too. The wind was pretty hairy all day long but all of my bikes felt very stable and although we were playing catch up a bit when we got here, we’ve chipped away all week. Looking at the bigger picture, I’m happy with my riding and happy with all the bikes so we can look forward now to the TT in a good frame of mind.”

Practice for the Isle of Man TT Races gets underway on Saturday 30th May with the opening race, the Superbike, taking place on the following Saturday.

Picture by Tim Keeton – Impact Images Photography