Lincolnshire’s Ivan Lintin enhanced his reputation as a first class International road racer further last week with some superb performances at the North West 200 road races on both the McKinstry Racing Kawasaki and Taylor Lindsey Honda machines.
The Bardney rider started the two day’s of racing in Northern Ireland in fine style on Thursday evening with a superb ride in the first 4-lap Supertwin race. Riding the 650cc McKinstry Racing Kawasaki, Ivan took the lead on the opening lap and, having opened up a four second lead at half race distance, he looked well set to replicate his win at last year’s Ulster Grand Prix.
However, the similarly-mounted Lee Johnston had other ideas and he gradually reeled Ivan in over the final two laps to edge him out by 0.525s. After celebrating his second place on the podium, Ivan jumped on board the 1000cc Taylor Lindsey Honda for the 6-lap Superstock race and, aided by a near 117mph lap, he took a solid 18th place.
Unlike the sunny conditions of Thursday, Saturday’s race programme was hit by poor weather as rain hit the north coast of Ireland but Ivan proved his credentials again with a brilliant 11th place in the Superstock race, just three seconds adrift of eighth place. He used the same machine for the two Superbike races and was duly rewarded with strong 14th and 16th place finishes.
There was also another race for the Supertwins but his decision to fit a dry rear tyre and wet front proved to be the wrong one as riders with full wet tyres were better equipped to deal with the conditions. Nevertheless, he still brought the bike home for a good sixth place.
Ivan Lintin: “It’s been a good meeting all round for me and I’m particularly pleased with how the 1000cc Honda went. It was my first time here on a big bike and I was quite open minded about how I’d get on but apart from a few small suspension issues that other riders told me were a trait of the NW200 course, the bike never missed a beat. After Tuesday’s practice session, I was pretty tired and wondering how I was going to improve but, after that, everything went well and to finish 11th in the Superstock race was a brilliant result for me.”
“I was lapping only a couple of seconds slower than the likes of Bruce Anstey and Guy Martin and I’ve got the bike really dialled in so it will be good to go to the TT and know what the bike’s going to do and not be in at the deep end! The Twin went better than I thought and it’s still essentially the same bike I won on at last year’s Ulster and although it would obviously have been nice to have won Thursday evening’s race, Lee got the better of me and it’s still a podium at an International road race, which is no mean feat.”
Ivan will now head back across the Irish Sea to launch his Isle of Man TT challenge where he’ll be contesting all six solo races. First practice takes place on Saturday 24th May.
Picture by Stephen Davison – Pacemaker Press International (SD)
