DESPITE earning his best ever finish in a National Superstock Championship race, Ian Mackman has no plans to run a full season in the class.
The Isle of Man TT specialist has been signed up by the PRF Team and given free rein to choose what he enters.
In the first race of the Metzeler National Super- stock 1,000 Championship at Brands Hatch he finished 19th – a personal best – on his team ride, a Suzuki GSR 6,000.
But while he believes PRF would back him in a Superstock season, he is also aware it was his solid show at last year’s TT that brought him to their attention and that’s where he wants to go for glory.
“I can compete in whatever championship I want with this team,” said Mackman, who is service manager at Bill Smith Motors in Chester. “But it is expensive to run a championship team and they are interested in the TT. That is where I want to be successful.
“It was nice to race at Brands and get my best finish in that series but those races are really just preparations for the road races that lie ahead.”
Mackman, who expects to compete at Oulton Park this weekend, was close to finishing even higher at Brands.
He said: “Fractions of a second would have catapulted me seven places or more up the finishers. That is probably down to electronic devices that we just won’t use in road racing.”
Mackman is serious about success in the TT. He has improved every year he has competed on the island and last year won five bronze replicas for finishing in the top 30 in five categories on two different bikes.
“I am doing more racing this year to prepare now I have a team behind me,” he said. “I feel good, the bike feels good and I’m looking forward to the North West 200s in Northern Ireland and the TT itself.”
