After a trying practice week and opening race day, Ivan Lintin gave the Dafabet Devitt Racing team their first finish of the 2017 Isle of Man TT Races when he claimed 13th place in Monday’s 4-lap Supersport race.

Like all competitors, the team had been affected by the inclement weather and limited track time during practice week and with Steve Mercer suffering a 140mph crash on Friday evening, fortunately without injury, they went into Sunday’s opening Superbike race on the back foot and both Steve and Ivan were forced to retire.

Steve’s 600cc Kawasaki ZX-6R was beyond repair so he was unable to start Monday’s Supersport race, which was delayed by over two hours due to overnight rain, and when it did get underway a number of damp patches still remained around the 37.73-mile Mountain Course.

Flying the team’s flag, Ivan opened his race with a lap of 120.026mph, which placed him 14th and as track conditions improved, he was able to pick up his pace. Indeed, a second lap of 121.938mph moved him up the order to 12th with just six seconds separating Martin Jessopp, Ivan and Josh Brookes in 11th to 13th place.

The Bardney-based rider continued to make progress on lap three to move up to 11th and although the fourth and final lap saw him post his best lap of the race at 122.647mph, he had to settle for 13th at the chequered flag, just 1.5s behind 11th placed Brookes.

Ivan Lintin: 

“I enjoyed today’s race and although it wasn’t ideal weather, particularly on the first lap, it was all about getting used to where the damp patches were and then pushing on accordingly. Hillberry caught me out on the first lap and after starting from 28th, I saw P16 on my first board and just kept chipping away. I was settled in by the second lap and with a good pit stop, I moved up to 11th.”

“I was closing in on a top ten position, which obviously would have been great, but I missed my pit board at Sulby on lap three so wasn’t quite sure how close the gaps were and it was only on lap four that I saw how close it was. I pushed as hard as I could on the final lap and although it was close for 11th place, I’m pleased to get a result under my belt on the 600 especially after the problems we encountered at the North West 200 and the lack of practice here.”

Roy Constable, Team Co-Owner: 

“Ivan made good progress through the race and although it would obviously have been nice to have finished in the top ten, the lap times were good and it was quite surprising how quick they were given the track conditions. It’s been tough with the lack of practice and Steve’s crash but both riders are getting back into their rhythm and we’ve still got four races to go so we’ll keep working hard and look to get some good results from here on in.”

Both Ivan and Steve will be in action on Tuesday with the four-lap Superstock race scheduled to get underway at 12.15pm.