LIFE IN THE FAST LANE FOR JESSOPP

The Yeovil man powered through the timing beam on the blisteringly fast blast to Coleraine at 208mph on his Riders Ducati last year, but he believes he can raise the benchmark this week.

“I am sure that I could hit 210mph or even 212mph this year if the conditions are right and I can slipstream someone,” said the 27-year-old.

“I was out on my own with no-one to slipstream and I hit 206mph on the first lap last year.

“It didn’t even get reported back to the pits because the guys with the speed gun thought that it couldn’t be working properly to record that speed so soon!” he added.

“I did the 208mph on the third lap. My mechanics were really excited about it when I pulled into the pits.

“When you are doing 180mph on a wide track like Silverstone it doesn’t really feel that fast but at the North West the road is so much narrower and everything is going past so quickly.

“It’s like you are going down a tunnel and the white lines and hedges become a blur.”