Adam McLean with the Binch Racing by Ugly & Co. Yamaha R6 at Oulton Park.

Highly-regarded Irish road racing prospect Adam McLean put the demons of his Tandragee 100 crash in 2019 behind him as he finally returned to action after a 14-month lay-off.

The Tobermore rider blew off the cobwebs with a recent test at Kirkistown in Co. Down with the McAdoo Racing team and also clocked up some more miles at Oulton Park last Tuesday, where he rode the Binch Racing by Ugly & Co. Yamaha R6.

McLean is counting down to the start of the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship at Donington Park in August (7-9).

After such a long time away from the sport, the Ulster Grand Prix winner says it was a ‘relief’ to have reached the end of his long road to recovery.

“It’s good to know we are going to be racing this year and although the British championship has been shortened to six rounds, there are still seven races – so there’s a substantial amount of racing to be done in just three months,” said McLean.

“I’m looking forward to getting going because it’s been a hard old road with all the rehab and training to get to where I am now after my crash.

“It was 14 months since I was last on a bike so to be back riding again is really nice and it’s more of a relief than anything else. I really enjoyed the tests and I’m just happy to be back again.”

McLean was ruled out for the 2019 season after crashing in the Supertwin race at Tandragee, suffering a string of injuries. A badly broken right arm proved most problematic but the enforced motorcycling lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic has allowed the injury to heal.

A visit to his surgeon in June yielded some welcome news for McLean, who was given a clean bill of health.

“I saw the surgeon who did my operation at the beginning of June and he was happy enough that I didn’t need to come back for any more appointments,” McLean said.

“He ticked me off the list and to be honest – although I would have went racing in March – the åinjury to my arm would have given me trouble because of a lack of strength and the fact the bone wouldn’t have been 100 per-cent healed.

“But it now feels completely normal and I didn’t even think it about when I was on the bike during the tests.”

McLean, in his third year with the Cookstown-based McAdoo Racing team, tested his 600 Kawasaki and a new 2020 Z650 Supertwin at Kirkistown two weeks ago.

He said: “We got out on the McAdoo/MSS Performance 600 for a few hours and I also did some laps on our brand new Z650 as well to get some data for it.

“It was good to get the rust off and get some miles done. I felt a bit ropey at first but it was to be expected after 14 months off a bike.”

Last Tuesday, he made the trip to Cheshire to test the Binch Racing by Ugly & Co. Yamaha he will ride in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship. He will also participate in the official BSB test at Silverstone on July 17.

“The characteristics of the Yamaha R6 are a lot different than the Kawasaki ZX-6 but I soon felt at home on the bike,” said McLean.

“I managed to get quite a few laps done and it was good to get some more knowledge of Oulton Park under my belt. We had a good base setting and we actually came away very happy with our times.

“I couldn’t have asked for any more from the test considering I’m coming back from injury and it was very positive overall.”