After the disappointing announcement recently that Manx team Radcliffe’s was pulling out of road racing, Yorkshireman Jamie Coward has been signed up to ride for Penz13 BMW Motorrad.

The Hebden Bridge man is effectively replacing Dan Kneen in the German-based team for the TT and other international meetings.

Coward enjoyed notable success at the 2017 TT, including an eighth place finish in the Superstock race as well as podiums at the Southern 100 and Classic TT.

He will team up with Derek Sheils and Danny Webb in the Penz13 team for the 2018 roads campaign which will start in May in the Czech Republic at the ’300 Curves of Gustav Havel’ meeting in Horice. The meeting is internationally known as the ’small TT’ and the team considers it the perfect track for Coward to prepare for the Mountain Course.

The team believes that with the same BMW S1000RR as Webb and Sheils, Coward has the ability to improve his lap times around the Mountain Course and achieve top-10 results consistently.

Coward will also race in the Macau Grand Prix as a newcomer.

Commenting on the news he said: ’After a great season with Radcliffe Racing I felt confident that we could built on that for 2018 but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.

’I’m really pleased that the Penz13 team called. With their experience in international road racing as well as in the Endurance World Championship I’m confident that they will provide me with the machinery to build on my experience and times to date.

’I believe that 130mph+ is a realistic target and with Derek and Danny in the team we will complement each other well.’

Team boss Riko Penzkofer said: ’We always wanted a three-rider line-up the international road races so when we heard of Jamie’s situation we contacted him immediately and put a deal together. His experience round the Mountain Course will benefit the rest of the team.’