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Les Shand put in some impressive rides at Saturday's International North West 200 road races, the highlight being 8th place in the Superstock race, less than three seconds adrift of the podium. Riding his 2007 R1, he was also the first Yamaha to finish and had the satisfaction of setting the second fastest lap of the race.
Mixed weather during Tuesday and Thursday evening practice meant that the grids were formed, in the main, from Tuesday's times. Les had enjoyed good outings on both evenings with the R1 Superstock machine, briefly holding onto first place on Thursday, but had experienced problems with the front forks with his Supersport machine. The final 600cc session was cancelled so Les found himself in 8th for the Superstock, 17th for the Superbike and 20th for the Supersport.
In the opening Superbike race on Saturday, Les pulled through from 18th on the opening lap to 15th by the end of the second but just when he was looking to challenge Ian Lougher in front of him, the race was stopped and the result declared. Subsequently, he was placed 15th although he was still the first Superstock machine home. The first Supersport race was also stopped on the opening lap but in the re-start Les fought his way up to 15th once more.
The Superstock was always going to be Les' best chance of a top ten result and so it proved. Ninth on the first lap, a lap of 120.257mph on the second, the second fastest lap of the race, moved him up to 8th and he was rapidly closing in on the group in front of him who were battling it out for the final rostrum position. However, Les was denied a top six finish when heavy rain began to fall and the race was stopped but 8th place, less than 3 seconds adrift of third place, was a superb ride. The final two races were then cancelled as the rain worsened and the circuit was deemed un-rideable.
Commenting about the day, Les said:
"It's been an up and down day but given the standard of competition and machinery out there today, I'm pretty pleased with my results. I had a bit of a coming together with Olie Linsdell at York Corner in the first race but I got my head down and was closing in on Ian Lougher on the AIM Superbike when the race was stopped although I was still pleased to be the first Superstock machine to finish."
"I was glad the Supersport was stopped as I made a poor start and got mugged at the first corner so I was right at the back of the first wave. On the restart, I got stuck in and moved up a fair few places but it was always going to be tough after the problems we'd had in practice and it's hard to come from that far back on the grid. In the Superstock race, I was well chuffed with how I was riding and although I wasn't pushing that hard, I was closing in on the group fighting it out for third quite comfortably. I'd just overtaken Conor Cummins for 7th and had Ian Hutchinson and Guy Martin firmly in my sights when the race was stopped so I was slightly disappointed although it was definitely the right decision to stop the race as we were all on dry tyres and it was raining quite heavily."
"It was a shame the final two races got called off as I was all set to race and felt confident in how I could have gone but it wasn't to be. I'd like so say a personal thank you to Darren Sellings, Steve from D-Tech Site Services and Ally of Bike Paints for all their mechanical support during the week and also to Callum McDonald (Oak Tree Contracts) and Bob Henderson for the loan of the bikes and finally to Tom French, Andy Wilby and Sure Safe for their loyal sponsorship."
Phil Wain
Freelance PR
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