Lighting Lintin retains Lightweight trophy for Devitt RC Express
Ivan Lintin and the Devitt RC Express Racing team took their second successive win at the Isle of Man TT races on Wednesday evening with the Lincolnshire ace taking the Lightweight race by over 12 seconds from regular sparring partner James Hillier. It was the third win in the class for the team after Dean Harrison’s triumph in 2014.
The Lightweight race got underway at 6.30pm with the island again bathed in sunshine and Ivan grabbed the lead at Glen Helen on the opening lap although his lead over James Hillier was just 0.33s. By Ramsey, the gap had moved to 1.4s but it was now Hillier in the lead with Ivan in second and that was how it stayed at the end of the lap, with Ivan lapping at 118.645mph to lie 2.1s adrift.
Second time around, the deficit ebbed and flowed between the timing points around the 37 and ¾-mile course and as the riders pitted for fuel at half race distance, the difference between the two riders was only 1.4s but a second lap speed of 119.806mph, the fastest lap of the race, now gave Ivan the lead.
With another superb pit stop by the team, Ivan now had some breathing space and as he swept through Glen Helen on his third lap, he now led Hillier by a more comfortable 8.2s. His lead remained constant throughout the third lap and as he started his fourth and final lap, his advantage had stretched to in excess of eleven seconds. And riding to his signals, he was able to maintain the gap for another brilliant TT win.
Ivan’s day had started with the second Supersport race which was delayed by a couple of hours due to mist on parts of the island. Having retired from Monday’s corresponding race, it was a steady start for Ivan but an opening lap of 122.135mph saw him comfortably running inside the top 15. and with two 123mph+ laps on the second and fourth laps, he was able to move up to a fine 13th place for yet another silver replica.
Ivan Lintin:
“I’m naturally over the moon to have taken my second TT win. I was getting good pit boards so I knew I was in the mix in the first two laps and the team did a fantastic job in the pits to extend the lead. When I saw ‘P1, +8s’ on my board, I could breathe a bit although I did make a few mistakes, running wide in a couple of places, so I had to get a hold of myself. There were a couple of yellow flags in places so had to slow down but other than that, the race was perfect and I’m delighted.”
“I had a good run in the 600cc race earlier in the day and the engine only went in at about 10pm the night before so we were a little bit in the unknown. As a result, it took me a couple of laps to get going but when Jamie Coward came past he was on a similar bike and with the two us riding to a similar standard, I was able to sit behind him. With a couple of 123mph+ laps and no speeding penalties this time (!), I was happy with 13th.”
Ben Constable, Team Co-owner:
“We came here to win the Lightweight race and that’s exactly what we’ve done! Ivan had started to claw back James’ lead before the pit stop but the boys in the pit were absolutely awesome and going out with a greater margin made Ivan’s job that little bit easier. He could manage the race after that and his race craft was mega whilst a massive, massive pat on the back has to go to Adam Nowell who built the bike and did everything he could to help Ivan win.”
“We were happy with the earlier 600cc race and the boys did a great job in working late on Tuesday evening to get the bike ready for the race. Having missed out on two laps on Monday we were on the back foot a bit and although the Supersport class has been our nemesis this week, Ivan kept chipping away and got quicker and quicker so we were pleased with the end result.”
The team are back in action on Friday with both Ivan and Alan Bonner contesting the 6-lap Senior race.
Photo credit Stephen Davison / Pacemaker Press Intl.