HUTCHY RAMPS UP TT ATTACK
16-time winner launches an all-out Isle of Man assault
In what has to be one of the greatest injury comebacks in history, Ian Hutchinson will race at the North West this week and then compete at the Isle of Man TT. Dubbed the miracle man after his incredible return to racing earlier in his career (see separate story) the 38-year-old is showing once again an incredible ability to bounce back from injury. Back on a bike just four days after having his cage removed, which has been on his leg since his crash from the lead of the Senior TT in June 2017, Hutchy completed a one-day test before entering a two-day club race, where he won two races.
And if that wasn’t enough, the next day he was at the demanding Cadwell Park for more testing. “It’s been nice to be back on a bike,” he told MCN during his fourth day on track. “I’ve done it a few times, jumped straight back in at the deep end from injury. You’re always a bit apprehensive when you put your leathers on for the first time but as soon as you let the clutch out you remember you haven’t forgotten how to ride. “I surprised myself at Mallory to be honest. We went there and did 80 laps just four days after I was under general anaesthetic having the frame taken off. I didn’t feel stiff or anything the day after and, I know it’s not the TT, but there’s enough going on round there! “I wanted to go to a more physical track so we tried Cadwell too and if I’m honest my first thought in the morning was ‘oh, the TT is going to be hard work’. I did the three laps behind the marshal at the start of the track day and I was looking at all the things I’d hit if I fell off and, to be honest, I didn’t really enjoy that first session. But after that I got straight into it and I’m feeling pretty good. I’m getting used to the bike and it’s a little different with my ankle fused. Before I had a little bit of movement there, not much, but a little and now there’s none at all.” Despite his bone taking longer than expected to grow back, Hutchinson hasn’t been sitting around waiting for the allclear. As soon as he could get a shoe on his foot he was back training and has spent four months getting fit so that he could ride if everything went according to plan. “For the first three or four months you can’t really do anything, you’re in and out of hospital, in and out of operations. You need rest, you need to heal and then as soon as I felt I could start doing stuff I did a bit and you just have to listen to your body. You can’t start hitting it hard, you have to do a bit at a time.
“As soon as the foot plate came off in December and I could get a shoe on I went out to Tenerife and was swimming, trying to walk in the pool and using a cycling machine. Since then I’ve had four months of cycling, swimming and training, doing everything I could.
“At the start I couldn’t do it every day but I’d build up and do more and more. Sometimes I couldn’t do it for four or five days or whatever but I’ve done as much as I can.” After four days on track, Hutchinson then rested ahead of this week’s North West 200, which he’s using as a real-time test for the TT, which kicks off at the end of next week.
“Now I just need the weather to be good the North West as that’ll be great track time ahead of the TT,” he said. “I’ve needed luck all the way through this process, if the weather hadn’t been so good last weekend I’d have struggled with signatures for my licence. “Hopefully we get a good dry North West 200, I’ll take each day as it comes and touch wood for now nothing is causing any setbacks or anything looking like it’s going to be causing problems.”
‘I wanted to try a more physical track’