Paul Jordan craves more North West 200 and Isle of Man TT podium joy in 2023 with PreZ Racing

The 31-year-old claimed his maiden rostrum at the North West in the opening Supertwin race with a fine ride to second place last year.

Jordan then achieved a lifelong dream when he finished third in the Supertwin race at the TT, joining winner Peter Hickman and fellow Northern Ireland man Lee Johnston on the podium.

Jordan will again ride for the PreZ Racing team in 2023, when his line-up of machinery includes a new Yamaha R1 Superstock machine, a Yamaha R6 for the Supersport class and a Kawasaki Supertwin.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, his first outing of the year was at the opening round of the British Superbike Championship in the Supersport class over the Easter weekend.

He will miss this weekend’s Cookstown 100, where Jordan suffered a broken left hand last year when he was caught up in a crash involving Mike Browne, but plans to compete in the next BSB round at Oulton Park (April 28-30) prior to the North West.

“I got a run out at Silverstone and to say it was badly needed is an understatement because I hadn’t rode a bike in eight months,” Jordan said.

“We had no testing or anything and it was straight into a British championship race. I didn’t really know what to expect and I thought if I qualified, I’d be doing well.

“If I went there and didn’t qualify then it wouldn’t have done my confidence any good, but we were lucky enough.

“I still did the same times that I did last year, when I had actually done some testing beforehand, so I wasn’t riding as bad as I thought I was going to.

“It’s just now about getting the ball rolling and starting to improve,” he added.

“The team didn’t really want me going to Cookstown after what happened last year when I broke my hand, through no fault of my own as such.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to have done it. But it’s also been a nightmare trying to get organised this year with personal insurance and stuff, and to be honest things have been a bit of a shambles with the whole set-up this year.

“It’s the riders who suffer and we just want to go racing.”

Jordan, who will start from number three for both Supersport and Supertwin races at the TT, is aiming to go one better and win his first NW200 this year on the north coast, where race week takes place from May 7-13.

“We’ll be going to the North West as our first road race and the aim this year is to win it,” he said.

“I believe I have the potential on the Supersport bike as well as the Supertwin, and I’m also looking forward to riding the big bike.

“This year my main aim is to get myself recognised on the big bike because I still believe I can ride a big bike, but I just haven’t had a proper chance and enough time on one yet.

“I might have doubted myself a bit in the past but now I believe in myself more.”