It's a couple of months away yet but the official launch took place the other night.
A lot of very confident looking riders I thought, Hutchy seems up for it and by his own admission upset a few people at Honda over the winter, a lot of longstanding people have left and he made massive demands to HRC for upgrades to the Fireblade who according to him have come up with the goods and he's really confident ahead of this year.
Dean Harrison is in my opinion the guy to watch, he's got a lot of laps under his belt in testing and is really pleased with his new ZX10, if I had to put money on a rider to win a Superbike TT it would be Dean
John McGuinness is riding for Norton this year in the Superbike and Lightweight classes, John seems very confident that he can get on the podium with the Superbike.
Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop are waiting for their bikes to be ready for testing, Hickman said he had a blast on the brand new BMW last summer and reckons in stock form it's better than the last model, Michaels confident and in his own words is "greedy for wins" I wouldn't be surprised if he won several races.
Conor Cummins remains with Padgetts riding the Fireblade, he did very well last year getting on the podium in the Superbike and Senior races. James Hillier is back with the Bournemouth Kawasaki team for the 11th year in a row and has also been out testing and will be doing some races ahead of the TT to get some more out of the bike, he seems to be in a good place.
Michael Rutter will be out on a Honda RCV in the Superbike and Senior races plus a BMW in the Superstock, former TT winner Gary Johnson remains with the RAF Kawasaki team hoping to build on his results last year and get back on the podium, sadly there is no Bruce Anstey again following his recent battle with cancer.
In the sidecar world Ben and Tom Birchall will be back hoping to continue their incredible form after becoming the first crew to lap the course in under 19 minutes last year. Sidecar legend Dave Molyneux returns with a new passenger Harry Payne who is competing at the TT for just the second time. Dave is also competing for the first time since 1991 on an outfit he hasn't built himself.
Can't wait, hopefully we get decent weather again.
A lot of very confident looking riders I thought, Hutchy seems up for it and by his own admission upset a few people at Honda over the winter, a lot of longstanding people have left and he made massive demands to HRC for upgrades to the Fireblade who according to him have come up with the goods and he's really confident ahead of this year.
Dean Harrison is in my opinion the guy to watch, he's got a lot of laps under his belt in testing and is really pleased with his new ZX10, if I had to put money on a rider to win a Superbike TT it would be Dean
John McGuinness is riding for Norton this year in the Superbike and Lightweight classes, John seems very confident that he can get on the podium with the Superbike.
Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop are waiting for their bikes to be ready for testing, Hickman said he had a blast on the brand new BMW last summer and reckons in stock form it's better than the last model, Michaels confident and in his own words is "greedy for wins" I wouldn't be surprised if he won several races.
Conor Cummins remains with Padgetts riding the Fireblade, he did very well last year getting on the podium in the Superbike and Senior races. James Hillier is back with the Bournemouth Kawasaki team for the 11th year in a row and has also been out testing and will be doing some races ahead of the TT to get some more out of the bike, he seems to be in a good place.
Michael Rutter will be out on a Honda RCV in the Superbike and Senior races plus a BMW in the Superstock, former TT winner Gary Johnson remains with the RAF Kawasaki team hoping to build on his results last year and get back on the podium, sadly there is no Bruce Anstey again following his recent battle with cancer.
In the sidecar world Ben and Tom Birchall will be back hoping to continue their incredible form after becoming the first crew to lap the course in under 19 minutes last year. Sidecar legend Dave Molyneux returns with a new passenger Harry Payne who is competing at the TT for just the second time. Dave is also competing for the first time since 1991 on an outfit he hasn't built himself.
Can't wait, hopefully we get decent weather again.
