Reigning 125/Moto3 Irish Road Race Champion Adam McLean will make his Mountain Course debut in this year’s TT.
The 20-year-old bricklayer from Magherafelt, Northern Ireland is tipped by many to reach the highest echelons of the sport and, despite his young age, he’s already recorded numerous achievements in a career that started back in 2006 on mini-motos.
After a highly successful short circuit career, which saw him win the 125cc Newcomer, Clubman and Adelaide Masters championships, as well as claiming pole position and finishing third as a wild card in the European Junior Cup at Silverstone, McLean had his first taste of real road racing in 2015 when he made his debut at his local Cookstown 100 event, finishing third in the Junior Support race and fourth in the 125cc encounter.
He took his first wins in the 125cc and Junior Support races at Kells and then, riding for Ryan Farquhar’s KMR Kawasaki team, added another victory to his CV in the Junior Support race at Armoy. McLean also made his debut at Oliver’s Mount, while his overall results won him both the 2015 Duke Road Race Rankings and MCUI Newcomer of the year awards.
In 2016 he won both the Irish and Ulster 125cc Road Racing Championships, claiming fourth place in the Supertwin race and eighth in the Supersport in his Southern 100 debut last July.
He also claimed sixth in the Supertwin race in his Ulster Grand Prix debut.
McLean’s results caught the eye of MSS Performance’s Nick Morgan who is providing a ZX-6R Kawasaki for the two Supersport races at the TT, plus the North West 200 Ulster GP, Southern 100, Scarborough and Irish road race events.
He will also ride the Lightweight (Supertwin) TT on the MJ Palmer/Hanna Performance ER6 650cc Kawasaki.
‘Competing at the TT is something I’ve always wanted to do and when the opportunity arose I grasped it with both hands,’ said Adam. ‘I’m really looking forward to the challenge.’