Poynton's Paul Shoesmith has vowed to put others before himself at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy with British Superbike Championship regular Simon Andrews on his side this year.

Shoesmith, a veteran of 27 career finishes at the Isle of Man TT, fuelled by Monster Energy, has signed up Andrews, a newcomer to the 37.73-mile Mountain Course, to his Ice Valley BMW Motorrad team.

The 44-year-old got a firsthand glimpse of Andrews’ potential at the North West 200 last month.

But a catalogue of uncontrollable issues meant Shoesmith never saw him race competitively.

The Poynton rider finished the Supersport race – the only one of the five scheduled races to be run – 20th and despite Andrews not getting the chance to follow suit Shoesmith insists the TT will favour his new teammate.

"At the North West 200 Simon was looking really fast," Shoesmith said.

"He was going a massive amount faster than I was so now it’s up to me and the team to do our homework and get him ready for the TT.

"I really want to get Simon up to my speed on the course and hopefully much faster than me as soon as possible and if we do that I think the newcomer lap record is a real possibility.

"We’re going to spend a lot of time out on the track and Simon has being doing his homework.

"We all really want him to do well, it has taken me seven years to get used to the track so we need to hurry him on. It’s the same every year – you think you’ve got all the preparation in hand and then you realise at about this stage how much there is left still to do. But we’ll be OK by the start."

A catalogue of problems plagued the North West 200 last month with torrential downpours, an oil spill and a hoax bomb threat leaving the majority of the paddock frustrated.

Shoesmith wasn’t complaining though and, with the TT now upon him, he insists he got almost everything he wanted from the week at the North West 200.

"Lots of people complained about the weather and hold-ups at the North West 200 but, to be honest, we don’t race in the wet on the island so it wouldn’t have been great practice anyway," he added.

"We used the time beneficially to get the bikes ready and I feel good about where the team is at.

"I’m not that interested in my own performance, I know that I’m going to ride as fast as I can while staying safe.

"However my times seem to get better every year.

"I’m the riding equivalent of a fine wine getting better with age and I hope that it continues."

The 2011 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy will be shown every evening at 9pm on ITV4 from May 30 to June 12. For more information on the event and for live Radio TT commentary and live timings go to www.iomtt.com