Ian Hutchinson joins new NI team for NW200 and TT
Road racer Ian Hutchinson will be competing in the Supersport classes of the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT in 2022 on R6 Yamahas from a new Northern Ireland race team.
The 41-year-old Yorkshireman - a 16-time TT winner and the only rider to win five TTs in a single year – visited Co Armagh to unveil the bikes of the Boyce Precision Engineering by Russell Racing team.
“I have been waiting two years to ride these bikes.” Hutchinson said.
“I managed to test and race one of them at Donington last season, but it has been frustrating not to be able to use them for the purpose they were built.”
The new race team, backed by George and Brian Boyce’s Portadown-based company BPE, is the brainchild of Alister Russell - previously crew chief to the likes of Keith Amor, Cameron Donald, Guy Martin and the late William Dunlop with various teams.
“Running my own team is something that I have always wanted to do and I had approached Ian at the end of 2019.” Russell said.
“We had a deal in place for the Supersport races at all of the international road races in 2020.
“We did the pre-season Spanish BSB tests at Monteblanco and Jerez at the start of the year, but five days after we got back to the UK, the first coronavirus lockdown was imposed.”
As well as the most successful Supersport rider at the TT with eight victories in the class around the Mountain circuit, Hutchinson is a three-time North West 200 winner.
His career has twice been derailed by serious injury, having badly damaged a leg in 2010 and then battled his way back, only to break the same leg during the 2017 Senior TT.
“I still love racing at the TT and I know that I can still win there,” Hutchy said.
“It breaks me that I’ve missed so many TTs, but it is what it is and I’ve still got the hunger to win there again.”
His combination of experience, drive and determination put him at the front of the list to lead Russell’s new race team.
“Ian is a proven winner and probably the most determined rider on the grid after all that he has been through.” Russell said.
“His determination to win is second to none and he can help steer us as a team because he knows what it takes to win.”