Rain interrupts Ulster GP practice

Red flags for crashes in earlier practice sessions, a cow on the track, cows eating haybales and rain contrived to make a mockery of the first day of practice at the Ulster Grand Prix yesterday.

And by the time superbike practice got underway, heavy rain turned practice into a nightmare, causing the session to be red-flagged early. Gary Johnson topped the leaderboard with a lap of 110.332mph on the East Coast Racing Honda. Guy Martin also ran a 110mph lap to go second on the Relentless by TAS Suzuki.

Keith Amor was third quickest on the TT Legends Honda ahead of Ian Lougher, William Dunlop and John Burrows.

John McGuinness making a return to the Ulster GP was tenth on the second TT Legends bike. Michael Dunlop survived a huge slide when he touched a painted line on the road, just as he was going out of sight of the start-finish straight.

The riders lost subsequent supersport session and a combined superbike/superstock sessions. The Dundrod 150 classics class was allowed five laps of practice following a safety car but that session was curtailed when visibility was so bad, marshals were unable to see from post to post.