THE CONTENDERS
Ian Hutchinson is back with Padgett’s while Mike Browne and Jamie Coward arrive with a point to prove
Over the years Ian Hutchinson has been called ‘the miracle man’ and there is no question it’s a deserving title – whether it’s from his history-making five TT wins in a week or the horrific career-ending injuries he’s fought back from to win again.
In terms of injuries he’s been there and done that. But just when you thought it was all going well he was dealt another blow when he suffered a stroke and was ruled out of the 2023 TT.
Most ordinary folk would have given up a long time ago, but Hutchy’s resilience is on another level – and for 2024 he’s back having signed to race for Padgett’s Honda, the team where he’s enjoyed career-defining success.
Now aged 44, he’s is one of the oldest and most experienced riders, and with 16 TT wins to his name he’s one of the most successful; sitting fourth in the all-time winners list ahead of riders including Mike Hailwood and Peter Hickman.
“If my accident [in the 2010 British Supersport race] had never happened and I’d carried on winning I would have probably walked away by now,” he explained.
“I never saw myself as a TT rider at 44 years old. When I was younger I thought it was ridiculous when I saw older riders still doing it. When I was in my 20s Ian Lougher was probably about my age now.
“But now I don’t think I look like I shouldn’t be racing, do I? If you look at the front runners there are no really young kids, are there? Davey [Todd] is 28, but he’s not won one.”
Given his experience, he knows what it takes to be competitive and sees 2024 as a building year to get fully back up to speed and work out if he can put himself in a position to win in 2025. And having reunited with Padgett’s and Honda, he’s in a good place to do just that.
“The Honda has been the easiest bike to just jump on and ride that I’ve had for a long time,” he said. “That’s including swapping from the Stocker to the Superbike. The Superbike is very easy to ride. It’s not a BSB-level Superbike, it’s TT spec so the swingarm is standard, etc. It’s got different forks and a tuned engine. So it should feel fairly similar, which is what we wanted.
“When I’ve raced the BMW you might as well have had two different manufacturers – it felt that different, but with the Honda they feel the same. It’s been a problem in the past on the roads because I never get any time on the Superbike. I ride a Stocker all year, get a Superbike for the NW200 and then go and try to win the TT!”
Fully recovered from his stroke, he’s been putting in the miles, testing in Spain alongside Kawasaki men Jason O’Halloran and Max Cook, as well as at Estoril alongside John McGuinness. Racing at the North West 200 he secured a best result of eighth in Superstock and ninth in Supersport every outing.
Rightly considered one of the sport’s brightest prospects, Mike Browne had a mixed TT last year – and while he excelled in the Supertwins class, finishing second in the first race for his maiden podium and then cruelly denied a win in the second, the double Lightweight Manx Grand Prix winner was disappointed with his results elsewhere.
Continuing with the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing for a second successive year in 2023, many, including Browne, expected him to break the 130mph barrier for the first time, but it never happened. He finished a fine ninth in the opening Superstock race and set a new personal best lap of 129.294mph in the Superbike race but that was as good as it got, with reliability issues holding him back.
It was a similar story in Supersport where, after missing the first race with a blown engine, he finished 12th in the second. The disappointment led him to switch camps in 2024 – and while the move to IN Competition Aprilia for the big bike classes looks a strange one, on paper at least, given the manufacturer’s lack of form at the TT, no one knows the bike better than former TT podium finisher and team owner Ian Newton. Their reliability on the circuits has been second to none, so both Newton and Browne will be looking to get the most out of the V4.
It’s easy to forget the Cork rider only has 14 TT races under his belt, such has been his rise. But he should figure prominently in Supersport, where he’ll be teammate to Josh Brookes at BPE/Russell Racing, and again in the Supertwins, where he should be challenging for victory.
‘The Honda has been easy to just jump on and ride’