MOTORCYCLING: Adam McLean joins Team IMR for 2018 road races

The 21-year-old from Tobermore will race an ex-Ian Hutchinson Yamaha YZF-R6 and a BMW S1000RR at the North West 200, Isle of Man TT and Ulster Grand Prix.

McLean, who will also contest selected Irish National meetings, will also compete in the Supertwins class on the Hanna Kawasaki.

The news was confirmed on Tuesday at printing firm Quinn’s in Belfast.

McLean underlined his potential in 2017 with an excellent fourth place in the second Supersport race at the North West 200 before sealing an international podium in the Supertwins class at the Ulster Grand Prix.

The promising young Ulsterman made his debut at the Isle of Man TT and claimed the coveted Newcomers Trophy, setting the fifth fastest lap ever by a Mountain Course debutant in the 600cc class at 120.644mph.

He finished 18th in the sole Supersport race and was in contention for the top ten in the Lightweight event until he was cruelly forced out on lap three.

McLean secured several rostrum results at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough, in the Supersport and Supertwins classes and kick-started his season with his maiden Supersport success at the Cookstown 100 – his home course.

McLean said: “I’m really looking forward to working with quinnstheprinters.com by Team IMR in 2018 and am very grateful for the opportunity. I’ll be riding top class machinery with a superb infrastructure behind me, which will hopefully enable me to be successful and build on my 2017 results so I can’t wait to get going.”

Peter Bradley, Managing Director at quinnstheprinters.com, said he believes McLean has a big future in the sport.

“quinnstheprinters.com are delighted to be the title sponsor of Team IMR and we are thrilled the team has secured the services of Adam McLean for the 2018 road racing season,” he said.

“As part of the Bradley Group, which has operations in England and the Isle of Man as well as a base in Northern Ireland, the company places a huge emphasis on supporting local, young talent.

“We believe that with the right backing, Adam has the capability to achieve considerable successes and build on his highly impressive 2017 effort and learning curve. We look forward to getting him on the bike during our Spanish testing programme in February and wish him all the best for a safe and enjoyable 2018 season.”

Team principal Ian Moffit, whose Isle of Man-based outfit will also contest the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship next year with Chrissy Rouse and Jordan Gilbert, said he was thrilled the opportunity came up to work with McLean in 2018.

“It’s fantastic to have signed Adam for the 2018 roads season. Given our initial focus on the British Championship and securing Chrissy Rouse and Jordan Gilbert for the Superstock 1000 BSB campaign, we feared we had missed out on signing a quality roads rider for 2018.

“However, having learnt that Adam was available and a discussion with Peter Bradley, we were able to come to an agreement on running Adam at the international road races which is hugely exciting for the team,” Moffitt said.

“Adam will have a full stable of bikes to compete in the Superbike, Superstock and Supersport classes at the NW200, TT and UGP respectively with the use of our two 2017 BMW S1000RRs as well as Ian Hutchinson’s 2017 front-running Yamaha R6 (purchased recently from Raceways Motorcycles), which will all run on Metzeler tyres, to whom we are very grateful for their support.

“Adam will also compete at some of the BSB and national road races throughout the season and we are extremely excited to be working with one of today’s most talented riders in road racing.

“We would not be able to do what we are doing without the support of all our partners but especially Peter and quinnstheprinters.com.”