For the second year in succession, Bristol-based RC Express Racing took victory in the Lightweight TT race with Ivan Lintin following in the footsteps of Dean Harrison’s success twelve months ago. Lintin took his maiden TT win by 3.8s from James Hillier in a new race record time. The Bardney resident was also inside the old lap record at 120.845mph.

With perfect conditions all round the Mountain Course, Ivan slotted into second place at the first timing point at Glen Helen but with an opening lap speed of 119.078mph, he took over at the head of the field with Ryan Farquhar two seconds behind and James Hillier a further half second back.

All three riders pitted for fuel at the end of the lap, with others going straight through, and it temporarily shuffled the order but by the end of the lap, Ivan was leading by 3.9s from Hillier with Farquhar now out. The front two went head to head over the final lap and although fellow Kawasaki rider Hillier claimed the lap record at 120.848mph, Ivan’s lap time was only 0.031s slower and he got the verdict for not only his first TT victory but also his first TT podium.

Ivan was then out later in the day in the Senior race where he was back on the ZX-10R Kawasaki but the race was red flagged on the second lap due to an incident when he was lying in 20th place after a lap of 125.624mph. However, the team opted out of the 4-lap re-start.

Ivan Lintin:

"I honestly don't know what to say, I'm speechless for a change! The race went well and I got P1 early on but the gap started to come down a bit so I just thought about what Danny (Horne) said - make the dream happen. That's all I was thinking of so when James started to push, I dug that bit deeper and almost 121mph is tramping on a bit on a Twin. When I did the Manx about six years ago, I did 116mph on a 600 and wondered how I'd ever go quicker so it's staggering given it's a shopping bike! I'm just made up - I'm a TT winner!"

Ben Constable, Team Co-Owner:

“I’m over the moon and our secret intention was to try and retain our Lightweight title – and we’ve done it! We can’t fault Ivan’s performance at all and it was quite simply a mega race from him whilst Adam Nowell put a great bike together. Ivan’s  had a great week all round and we’ve all worked really well as a team so a big thanks to Danny, Jon and Jordan for all their hard work. It’s been a great week and the response we’ve had has been superb too so we’re all delighted.”

The team will now head to the Barry Sheene Festival at Scarborough, with the meeting taking place on June 20-21.

Picture by Jon Jessop Photography