North West 200: Glenn Irwin focused on recovery after 'scary' issues
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North West 200: Tuesday Practice Highlights
An unwell Glenn Irwin says his Ducati was plagued by instability in the opening North West 200 practice session, calling his Superbike "unrideable" at high speed.
Irwin was eighth, some 8.4 seconds down on Michael Dunlop's fastest lap.
The 33-year-old added being unwell was not a factor in the result and he won in the British Superbikes at Oulton Park feeling under the weather.
"It was actually quite scary and it wasn't an enjoyable ride," Irwin said.
"We had major stability problems. I couldn't go from A to B and couldn't stay on the throttle. If it continues like that we won't feature in the race on Saturday at all."
Despite his six victories in the Superbike class in recent years, Irwin has often struggled in opening practice before bouncing back in final qualifying and race day.
Irwin, who added he felt that the 30-minute practice for Superbikes was too short and had raised the issue with race officials, said he hopes some tweaks will put him at the sharp end on Thursday.
"I had it in FP1 last year [with Honda] and I had it on the Kawasaki [in 2019]. I was absolutely nowhere, nowhere then pole, pole. I'm not making any predictions for Thursday but the bike was very unstable today.
"We struggled with instability at Oulton Park [in the BSB] and when you come here it highlights it at high speed," he said.
"The session wasn't long enough with 30 minutes to get your bikes working. I'd time to come in but no time to look at data.
"I spoke to Mervyn [Whyte, North West 200 event director] and said the Superbikes need to have more track time.
"That's down to them but we will wait and see what they do.
"There's no stress at all. If that thing goes in a straight line then we'll be alright."
'I knew it was a good lap'
Alastair Seeley has won 27 races at the North West 200
Record wins holder Alastair Seeley was fastest in the Supersport and Superstock sessions, and was second in Superbike practice behind Dunlop.
In contrast to Irwin, Seeley praised the stability of his BMW Superstock and Superbike machines and said he was in a good place ahead of final qualifying on Thursday.
"The Superbike felt very stable and it felt quite fast. I think it is the fastest I have ever been round here at 207 mph," said Seeley, who was riding the Ducati V2 Supersport bike for the first time around the Triangle Circuit.
"We just rattled off the laps to see how the tyres would feel for the duration of a race distance.
"On the Stocker, at the beginning it was a bit damp and sketchy, so you never knew going into places whether there had been a big downpour or if it was just spitting.
"We were cautious for a lap or two to get up to speed and then we managed to do a pretty good time, which was near enough three seconds faster than what we managed to do on the Superbike.
"I knew it was a pretty good lap. To be on my own, doing it on my own without a slipstream and not really being in qualifying mode, to be one second off the lap record is pretty good."
"It means we can juggle the two Superbike and Superstock feelings and make two good motorbikes out of all this information."