Jamie Coward “nervous and worried” before racing return after North West 200 crash

Jamie Coward has made his return to racing after missing races at the North West 200 and the whole Isle of Man TT.

The English road racer recently took part in the Bob McIntyre Memorial Classic Races on 21 June with the Craven Classic Racing team in what was his first competitive outing since crashing at the North West 200 and sustaining injuries including to his head and shoulder.

“A bit of a challenging weekend,” Coward said.

“We had a brake failure on the Manx Norton, unfortunately, which was something that [we] didn’t want [because] the reason to come here was to get back a bit of bike time.

“I had to jump off, abandon ship, I banged my shoulder, I’ve aggravated some tendons and muscles that I upset at the North West [200].”

Coward added that, while he was nervous before heading out, he was able to feel comfortable again quite quickly.

“I felt like myself again after two laps,” he said.

“I was really nervous and worried about getting out on the bike. I got going after two laps with a big smile, beaming from ear-to-ear, let’s say, so really happy to get back.

“It’s just unfortunate that we had that incident with the brake failure on the Manx Norton, [...] but other than that it went really well and I’m really happy to be back on the bike.”

The Bob McIntyre Memorial Classic Races took place on 21–22 June, but the aggravation of his shoulder injuries from the North West 200 meant Coward did not ride on the Sunday.