TT 2024: Adam McLean makes comeback in Supertwin class on Yamaha after six-year absence
Adam McLean is set to compete at the Isle of Man TT for the first time since 2018.
The Tobermore man is riding a 700 Yamaha Supertwin for Flitwick Motorcycles.
McLean made his debut at the TT in 2017 and returned to the Mountain Course the following year as part of the Cookstown-based McAdoo Racing team.
He was ruled out for the 2019 season following a crash at the Tandragee 100 and endured a 14-month layoff before returning to action in 2020 in the British championship in the Junior Superstock class.
However, he suffered a further crash in qualifying at Brands Hatch, breaking his right humerus, and complications over a right wrist injury left McLean fearing his racing days could be over.
He managed to overcome the injury and battled back to fitness in 2021, claiming podium finishes at Armoy.
With none of the major road races taking place due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in 2021, McLean’s return to the TT Mountain Course was put on hold.
He missed the event again in 2022 after parting company from the McAdoo Racing team, while his plans to return to the Mountain Course at the Manx Grand Prix to ride a TZ250 Yamaha for LayLaw Racing team were thwarted after he broke his collarbone in a motocross accident shortly before the event.
He sat out the TT last year due to budget pressures but raced at the Manx Grand Prix on the LayLaw Racing Yamaha, finishing fifth despite incurring a one-minute time penalty for failing to make his compulsory pit-stop. The Ulsterman was a runner-up in the race in 2018 at the Classic TT.
Speaking at the Manx GP last August, McLean – who continued riding for Banbridge team J McC Roofing Racing this year for a second season – said: “I didn’t do the TT but the Manx was in the plan.
“The structure of the team doesn’t allow that [TT] with the costs involved and I had missed the TT for four years in a row, so I wasn’t going to panic about it.
“People see the big set up and think that it’s all covered but there’s a huge cost involved and that’s a big reason why I didn’t go to the TT.
“The Manx is a lot more relaxed and there’s a lot less responsibility on my shoulders.”
McLean was ruled out of the North West 200 earlier this month after colliding with Davey Todd at York corner in the opening Supersport race.