Pals they may be, but now Ian Hutchinson has John McGuinness' old job. That may lend an extra frisson to TT '07, but McGuinness is still the man to beat, reckons Hutch – and who is Mac McDiarmid to disagree?
His mate Ian Hutchinson, meanwhile, after a blistering season on the McAdoo Kawasakis, found himself promoted to John's old slot, riding Leon Camier's BSB Superbike on the roads and a HM Plant CBR600 on the shorts.
"I was a bit pissed off," admits McGuinness about losing the HM Plant ride for the season. "Not with Ian," he added, hastily, "'cos I quite like him. We're good mates. Of course there's been a bit of banter about him 'nicking' my job. And I want to beat him and he wants to beat me. That's great."
Hutchy's HISTORY
As a youth Hutch “begged and begged for a bike, but Mum was dead against it.” Eventually, she relented, and her only son – he has two elder sisters – took up trials aged 15.
The pivotal moment, though, came when Hutch and a bunch of mates began an annual pilgrimage to watch David Jefferies at the TT, culminating in the first of his trebles in ‘99. The following year Hutch was himself a racer, riding a GSX-R600 Suzuki in New Era meetings. “Good craic,” he recalls, with that characteristic half-shy grin.
If being promisingly quick characterised his early efforts, then so did being skint.
Despite moving through the ranks to compete in BSB Superstock, mostly Hutch could manage only a meeting here and there, nothing amounting to a full season. Then he won the Donington Superstock round and people began to notice this lanky Yorkshire pup.
The happiness certainly showed first time out on the roads at Cookstown, which lies practically at the foot of Winston’s garden. As a rank circuit newcomer, after four laps of practice Hutch qualified pole in Superbikes (on his Superstocker), then third on the 600. He led the Supersports race from start to finish, and might have won the Superbike, too, if he hadn’t been shunted up the slip road by Finnegan with a lap to go. Twenty-four hours later he placed second at Oulton in Supersports.
Hutch had arrived. Almost overnight, a promising young ‘un had become the hottest thing on the roads. The North-West 200, where he won on the 600 and took four seconds off the Superstock record, maintained the same upward charge – as did two TT podiums. Then, at the Ulster, he became the fastest man in the world still racing, with a lap of Dundrod at 130.829mph. Be in no doubt. The man from Bingley is the real thing.
Even Hutchy himself was taken slightly aback. "John wasn't too impressed," he remembers. "But I don't think they're replacing him with me – he always had a road race job this year. He's still the guy to beat."
"I was surprised to get the ride instead of John, because I thought we might both get it. But when Honda said they'd run two TT bikes this year, I thought I'd be in the frame, because I'd had a good, consistent season with podiums everywhere. The next thing's a TT win."
McGuinness echoes the thought, if not necessarily the part about Hutch winning. "I thought the ideal set-up would be me and Ian in a team… that'd be a strong team. Youth and experience. As it is there's a lot of pressure on him. But I have to be honest with myself about the job I did on the shorts, and Ian was definitely doing a better one than me. So now I'm with Padgetts, and I'm happy with them… as happy as I've ever been."
"And it's not as though he's been handed it on a plate. He'd gone 25 grand in debt to go racing, a bit like I had before, so good luck to him. And, to be honest, I can't dislike any of the roads boys. There are bigger issues. They all stick their necks right out. A lot can go wrong."
For a while in the grey depths of last winter, the loss of the HM Plant job hit McGuinness quite hard. But now, with the TT just weeks away, he's done the classic racer's trick of turning disappointment into motivation. "I'm up for it. Yes, I lost my way a bit, but I'm training hard – lost a stone – and feeling good. The team's working really hard. The 600's good, I'm happy with it."
But perhaps this year more than ever, he faces stiff opposition not just from his HM Plant team-mate, but from other young guns. "It's going to be tough this year with all those whippersnappers, but I'm going to approach it in the same way… make sure everything's right, ready. Maybe I don't always look focussed, but I am. It's funny – for years I rode all sorts of bits and pieces around here but now I really know what works for me at the TT. And no-one on the grid's going to want to win more than me."
A couple of years ago – and even prior to last year's Junior – pundits were wondering how McGuinness would respond to pressure. The categorical answer lies in last year's triple wins.
But what of Hutch? He's quick to remember why he's doing what he does and how he got where he is. "Pressure?" he asks. "No more than I'd put on myself. I've got myself in this position 'cos I wanted to win races, not so I could just wear the team shirt. Two years ago I was skint. Last year had its ups and downs but was pretty good, especially my first TT podiums. This is my fourth year [on the Mountain Circuit]. I know it now. The year before last I thought I knew it, but didn't really. Last year, I clicked."
"Being relaxed around the paddock is the way to do it. You can't make wins happen. Going mad to be top of the leaderboard every day counts for nothing, although you need to do the speeds to set the bike up, but not race like a madman every night."
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