Mixed fortunes on the island for Lintin

Ivan Lintin and the Dafabet Devitt Racing team endured mixed fortunes on Wednesday at the Isle of Man TT Races with a fine tenth place in the morning’s Supersport 600cc race offset by a retirement on lap two – when leading – in the afternoon’s Lightweight race.

Having set the second fastest time in Lightweight practice on his ER6 650cc Kawasaki, Ivan and the team were hoping to repeat their victories of 2015 and 2016 and the four-lap race started well as he swept through Glen Helen just half a second behind surprise leader Derek McGee.

However, by the time they’d reached Ramsey Hairpin for the first time, Ivan had turned the deficit into a 2.9s advantage and as he completed the lap, he broke the old lap record with a superb lap of 121.603mph. That gave him a 5.7s lead over new second placed rider Michael Dunlop.

Lap two saw Ivan extend his lead and he looked set for a 122mph+ lap when he reached Cronk ny Mona, less than two miles from the start and finish, as his lead had gone out to almost ten seconds. Unfortunately, as he went round the next corner, Bedstead, the bike ground to a halt and his race was over.

Earlier in the day though, he’d taken his fourth top ten finish of the week when he finished in tenth place in the second Supersport 600cc race. An opening lap of 123.185mph put him into 12th place and this became 11th at half race distance with an improved speed of 124.506mph on the Kawasaki ZX-6R.

Aided by the fastest pit stop of all the teams, Ivan got out ahead of James Cowton and although the Yorkshire rider caught him back up on the final lap, a speed of 124.913mph – Ivan’s best ever lap on a 600cc machine – elevated him to tenth place at the chequered flag.

Ivan Lintin:

“Obviously, I’m disappointed with the outcome of the Lightweight race as I was really hopeful of making it a hat-trick of wins. The game plan of getting my head down at the start and breaking Michael (Dunlop) was going reasonably well and after getting a signal saying 'P2' at Sulby Bridge on the first lap, I got cracking and although Michael went quicker on the last lap, I broke the lap record from a standard start, which was very pleasing.”

“I kept pulling away on the second lap, which isn’t something you do very often to Michael but coming into Bedstead, the bike ground to a halt and I had to take to the kerb to bring the bike under control. It was a real shame but the morning’s Supersport went very well and after James caught me early on, I hooked on to the back of him. The team did a great job at the pit stop and although James caught me up again on the last lap, we had a good ride round together and I was pleased with another top ten finish and another personal best lap.”

Ben Constable, Team Co-Owner:

“It’s definitely been a day of two halves and it started really well with another top ten finish for Ivan in the Supersport race and another personal best lap too. Four top ten finishes from the first four races was simply superb and we had really high hopes for the Lightweight race where we were going for our fourth win and Ivan his third.”

“He knew what he had to do and he broke the field with a near 10s lead after almost two laps. Lap two would have been 122mph+ for sure and we knew we’d be able to get him in and out of the pits in double-quick time but it wasn’t to be. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the class and when you’re at the top end of the field, the margins are fine. Hopefully, we can finish the week on a high and get back into the top ten in the Senior.”