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William Dunlop utilised Saturday’s non-championship Irish Open short circuit meeting at Nutts Corner to put in more laps on the Kawasaki ER6 Supertwin he will ride at the Isle of Man in TT June.
Dunlop took a brace of race wins on the Emerald Road Racing-backed 650cc twin, beating Dave Butler and Stephen McKeown respectively.
The 26-year-old, who will again ride for Wilson Craig’s Honda outfit in 2012, also competed in the opening Superbike race, finishing in eighth place overall on the ER6.
The bike was previously raced by rising young road racing prospect Wayne Hamilton, who was tragically killed in a crash at the Manx Grand Prix last year.
“The idea today was just to get some more track time in on the wee bike,” Dunlop said.
“It was a bit of fun out there and the main priority was to get some more mileage under my belt before the racing starts proper at Easter.”
Former 250cc British champion Woolsey Coulter was also among the entries at Nutts Corner.
The Portadown man will contest the Ducati 848 Challenge series in England this year and also intends to return to the North West 200 in May at the age of 48.
Coulter is best remembered for his prowess in the 250cc class at the North West, where he won his last race in 1998 - the same season secured the 250cc British title.
The Co Armagh rider was a double winner in the class at the high-speed Portstewart-Coleraine-Portrush circuit in 1996 and tasted success again in the two-stroke class in ’94.
Coulter hopes to ride the same Kawasaki ER6 Supertwin that Dunlop will ride in the reintroduced Lightweight TT.
The class has already attracted an impressive line-up at the North West, with Ryan Farquhar, Jeremy McWilliams, Michael Dunlop, Simon Andrews, Ian Lougher, Adrian Archibald, Kirk Jamison and Jamie Hamilton among the entries.
Richard Rea won both Open Superbike races on Saturday on the Rea Racing BMW, with Gareth Keys twice finishing as runner-up and Coulter finishing sixth and seventh on his Ducati 848.
Keys took a double in the Supersport class on his GSX-R600 Suzuki at the season-opening short circuit event, which was organised by the Mid Antrim Motor Club.
