By Ian Hutchinson enjoyed arguably his best ever North West 200 meeting, last week, as he showcased once again, why many consider him the world’s leading pure road racer.
Having had by his own standards reasonable performances in superbike, superstock and supersport qualifying, he went into the races, determined to be fighting at the front across all classes.
The opening supersport race saw Hutchy start from 12th on the grid, he quickly by lap two was moving into contention for race victory, by lap four the 11 times TT winner was at the front of the field.
Although in the end Alastair Seeley was victorious for the 16th time at the North West 200, second place finish on the Came BPT Yamaha, was an excellent start to race week at the opening international road race of the year.
Race day, last Saturday, began with the second supersport race, having again battled his way through to the leading pack, he encountered reliability problems on the fourth lap, forcing him and the Came BPT Yamaha, out of contention.
This disappointment was more than made up for in the opening superstock race, as Ian emerged victorious in a quite thrilling race, where on the final lap he was down in fourth place, before charging through into race lead.
Photo by Rod Neill
His lap speed on the final lap was a quite sensational 122.702 mph, a new outright superstock lap record, plus a lap speed, which makes him now the third fastest rider in history around the Triangle.
Reflecting on this great victory, Ian said:
“This has made my day and hopefully the team’s. I knew it was going to be fast today with the conditions being so good, but I had to become a mathematician.
I was able to ride flat in top through Station and that helped me get the run on the others.”
Following his third North West 200 victory, next up was the opening superbike race. Starting sixth on the grid, Hutchy as in the previous races, surged quickly to the front.
As the race went on he began to experience gearbox issues on the Tyco BMW superbike, despite this issue, he went onto finish in second place, when the race was red flagged on lap five.
Photo by Rod Neill
Looking back on a highly productive meeting, Ian was full of praise for his Tyco BMW team.
“The Tyco BMW team has done an amazing job putting good bikes under me. I’m delighted.”
Words by Stevie Rial
