Irish roads specialist Ivan Lintin from Bardney was competing in the Cookstown 100 races on Saturday where he secured a win and a fifth place in his two outings around the 2.1-mile Orritor Road course.
It was Lintin’s first time at Cookstown and the weather made him a bit more cautious than usual.
“I went out in the wet on the big Suzuki 1000cc machine and it was a bit daunting, it’s a big handful at the best of times but even more so in the wet.” He explained.
Subsequently, Lintin failed to qualify for the A final but went on to take an easy victory in the B final where he also posted the fastest lap of the race with a time of one minute 33.063 seconds – 81.235mph on the final lap of six.
Next up was the Royal Hotel and Braeside Junior A race for 250/400cc machines. Lintin had qualified for a second row start to the eight-lap affair and slotted straight into fifth position tucked in just behind the two riders ahead. But he had a massive moment going over the jumps at the back of the course, which caused him to slow and complete the race in fifth position.
“That was a massive moment for me,” said Lintin. “My feet were off the pegs and it scared me sufficiently to go a bit steadier. I was taking that section of the course over half a second slower than the front runners but then making it up again on the rest of the lap.”
Lintin’s next outing is the Tandragee meeting in Ireland where he will ride both the 250cc and 1000cc machines to prepare for an assault on the North West 200 public roads course on May 17.
Picture credit - Alan Armstrong
