Fresh from his success at the Isle of Man TT, Ivan Lintin's rich vein of form on the roads has continued in recent weeks with some high class performances at both Oliver's Mount, Scarborough and the Southern 100. The Bardney, Lincs rider took a brilliant four-timer at Scarborough at the end of June and backed this up with a host of top ten finishes at this weeks Southern meeting, including a first ever win around the 4.25-mile course.
The Barry Sheene Classic Festival was Ivan's first meeting after the TT where, with races also for modern machinery, he was once again out on the R&D Sheet Metal ER6 and ZX-6R Kawasaki's. Despite the mixed weather conditions, no-one was to get the better of Ivan as he won all four of the races he entered taking a commanding double over David Bell in the Supertwins races and defeating Keith Pringle and Jamie Coward in the two 1000cc events.
It was then back to the Isle of Man for this week's Southern 100 road races, which were held on the Billown circuit near Castletown in the south of the Island. Whilst most of the UK continued to be hit by heavy rain, weather on the Isle of Man was near perfect as Ivan made his first appearance at the 'Friendly Races'. He opened his account for the week with 11th overall in Tuesday evening's combined 600cc/1000cc race but it was a brilliant start as Ivan was the first 600cc rider to finish and so got to take the top step on the pdoium for the class.
Wednesday saw Ivan have two races and the first of the evening was the 250cc/650cc event where he battled for much of the race with Chris Palmer and Russ Mountford on his new Tigcraft-framed ER6. There was little to choose between the trio as they contested the final podium spot and at the end of the 8 laps, it was Palmer on his 250cc machine who prevailed with Ivan in fourth, just over a tenth of a second adrift. Immediately afterwards was the first 600cc race and Ivan was involved in a terrific four-rider dice for fourth although on this occasion, he had to settle for a close seventh as he lost out on the drag to the line.
Thursday's final race day had a packed schedule and it was another highly successful day for the 27-year old. A superb battle with Ian Lougher and Dean Harrison saw Ivan finish 6th in the Supersport race, less than five seconds off the podium, and he also set his fastest lap of the week at a hugely impressive 107.373mph. Sixth was taken in the second 250cc/650cc race before he completed his week with 14th in the feature Solo Championship race where he was the second 600cc rider home.
Speaking on Friday, a delighted Ivan said; "I've had a really good couple of meetings and couldn't have asked for much more as I've been really happy with my performances. I had my first ride on the new ER6 at Scarborough and although Ryan (Farquhar) wasn't present, I was happy with how the bike went and was delighted to take two race wins. The weather was a bit iffy during the day and I had dry races, damp ones and wet ones and the second 600cc race was really bad. The rain was relentless with standing water everywhere, definitely the worst conditions I've ever ridden at Scarborough so I was pleased to get to the finish of that one!"
"I'd ridden at Billown before in 2011 but had never contested the Southern 100 meeting before and it was a quality event with some top class riders so it was a good chance to pit myself against them and see how I fared. Overall, I'm really happy with how it went and the results certainly exceeded my expectations with my lap times far better than what I thought they'd be. The 600 was working really well and I had some really good battles with Lougher, Harrison, Coward and Michael Pearson. It's really important to get away with the front group and get the tow and I was ahead of them on the final lap of the first race only to get outdragged on the run in to the line. It was a similar story in the second and I was well chuffed to be just a few seconds off the podium and also to be running so close to Ian Lougher around there as he's won stacks of races!"
"It was only my second time on the ER6 and we were making changes to the suspension continually, which were improving the bike all the time. I was slightly disapointed to lose 3rd to Palmer in the first one and although 6th second time around was a worse result, I was really pleased with it as the bike was a bits not long before the race started as we were fitting a new clutch and radiator! I enjoyed the Championship race as well even though some of the 1000s were holidng me up in places so it's been a really good few weeks. I'm over the moon with the results so a big thank you to the team and all the sponsors."
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