Cooper and Hickman have gapped McWIlliams a little bit coming over Primrose Hill on the second lap.

Is this a two-horse race or will McWIlliams reel them back in?

It's Cooper from Hickman at the end of the first lap!

There's 0.399 seconds between them and McWilliams is right behind!

Mike Browne is fourth ahead of Christian Eklin, Barry Furber and Gary McCoy.

McWilliams and Hickman are side-by-side through Metropole as they try to hunt down Cooper!

Can they reel him in over the coast road?

Lee Johnston
Five-time winner at the NW200

I had a chat with Pete Hickman on the grid and he's feeling quite confident.

He seems to have made a few improvements to the bike and I believe there was a gearing change because the wind now has changed direction.

Richard Cooper, who has won this race four times in a row, is trying to break the tow from McWIlliams and Hickman behind!

There's a bit of chaos behind and a number of riders jump the chicane at Mather's Cross.

Cooper, Hickman and McWIlliams are tied together! They are away at the front!

Cooper holds the lead and McWilliams is into second place!

Cooper hits the front! He leads through Station and now it's the long run down to University!

Slipstream time!

Keith Huewen
BBC Sport NI commentator

It's been over 40 years since I have been here and I still get the same buzz about it.

Driving in this morning, it's just fantastic, you can't stop jabbering!

It's Peter Hickman who gets the jump off the line!

But here comes Richard Cooper, but Hickman holds on heading into York and everyone looks to be through safely.

Look to the lights, the engine notes rise.....and WE ARE RACING!

Mervyn White, event director, speaking to BBC Sport NI:

"The crowd have been coming here since I was on the course at 5:20 this morning and Magherabuoy and Juniper are completely full themselves.

"It's good to see the crowds, it's massive particularly going down to York Corner and the golf course, on the right hand side.

"I think people have been starved of road racing for a period of time and I suppose when you look at the North West and the talent we have here, everyone is back out again and the weather makes it."

The Supertwins are back on the grid and it won't be too long before we are racing.

I can't stress enough about just how good the weather is. It's perfect out there.

A rarity for the North West 200, but we'll take it!

Keith Huewen
BBC Sport NI commentator

I have a little bit of a feeling for Mike Browne in this. Watch out for the number 16, the man from Cork, he is looking pretty good and we haven't talked enough about him.

Jenny Tinmouth
Fastest woman around the IOM TT

It's hard to bet against Richard Cooper, taking the last four wins in the Supertwin category. But Peter Hickman stuck his R7 on pole there so he's taking it to Richard Cooper.

It'll be the battle of the manufacturers there as well, Yamaha vs Kawasaki, and who knows because it's such a tight class, it could be anybody on top.

Image source, Pacemaker

1. Peter Hickman (Yamaha)

2. Richard Cooper (Kawasaki)

3. Jeremy McWilliams (Paton)

4. Mike Browne (Aprillia)

5. Christian Elkin (Kawasaki)

6. Adam McLean (Kawasaki) - DNS

7. Michael Sweeney (Aprillia)

8. Barry Furber (Yamaha)

9. Gary McCoy (Kawasaki)

10. Barry Graham (Aprillia)

The Supertwins are heading out on their warm-up lap for the first race of the day.

Peter Hickman, Richard Cooper and Jeremy McWilliams lead the field away.

The circuit conditions? Bone dry.

The forecast? Not a drop of rain.

The temperature? Warm, and will get hot later on.

The atmosphere? Buzzing.

Let's go racing!

Image source, BBC Sport

Unless you've been under a rock, you'll likely have watched this clip of Paul Cassidy's accident from Thursday.

It's astonishing footage, and thankfully Paul is okay and he talks up through his experience.

He was sent cartwheeling through the air after hitting a padded wall following a collision with another rider during a qualifying session.

Having come off his bike, the Isle of Man rider landed on a car bonnet, and while his leg is badly bruised, he managed to escape the incident without major injuries.

"Everything went into slow motion. I tried to think 'do I go up the coast road' and then I knew I was going too fast so I couldn't do that," Cassidy told BBC Sport NI.

"I looked at the brick wall with the padding on it and thought 'well we're going to hit that' so it's a case of not hitting that and not following the bike in.

"Just before I hit it, I jumped off the seat and that sprung me in the air, after I hit the barrier and it sent me 20-odd foot in the air."

Lee Johnston
Five-time winner at the NW200

Michael Dunlop got a bad start to the green, two of the starts of the races he got duffed and passed a bit and didn't get away with the leaders.

It'll be interesting, we want to see groups of four or five riders.

Image source, Pacemaker

Richard Cooper has won the last four races in this class and looked set to take pole for this year's event, but Peter Hickman put in a blinding lap to snatch it away on his Swann Yamaha.

Cooper is right in the mix in second, while 60-year-old Jeremy McWilliams, Mike Browne and Christain Elkin will also be in the mix once the lights go out.

All the Supertwins sessions have been interrupted so far by weather or red flags, so they will want some clean running for their two races.

They were the only class not to have any racing on Thursday, so the Twins will have two outings today.