Ian Hutchinson back on the podium after “nightmare eight years”

Ian Hutchinson says the last eight years have been a “nightmare” having battled numerous physical issues and a resultant lack of competitiveness, before returning to a road racing podium in Superstock Race 1 at the North West 200 on Thursday.

Hutchinson finished third in what was the final race of the first day of racing at this year’s North West 200, finishing behind Dean Harrison and the victorious Michael Dunlop (who also won Supersport Race 1), after both 8Ten Racing riders – Peter Hickman and Davey Todd – made mistakes in two of the circuit’s many hard braking areas.

It was Hutchinson’s first road racing podium since breaking his left femur in a crash in the 2017 Senior TT, as well as the first for the new-to-road-racing MLav Racing team, a project that Hutchinson said had been “rushed” together over the past month or so.

“MLav [Michael Laverty] gave me a ring in November about doing this project and it sort of came together in the last four weeks, to be honest, very rushed,” Hutchinson told BBC Sport NI after the Superstock race.

“But we’ve got there.”

Hutchinson added that he had kept “believing” that he could return to the front of road racing despite the physical problems he’s had in the past eight years, from the aforementioned broken leg to a stroke in 2023.

“I’ve been believing ever since 2017 with my crash that I could come back.

“Obviously, two years after that was bad with the frame on my leg, then Covid, and then I had a stroke.

“It’s been a nightmare, really, eight years of being nowhere near the pace but I’ve kept believing in myself and carried on going, training hard and everything.”

Hutchinson said he’s “not sure, to be honest,” when asked where he has found the resilience to push through that string of physical problems.

He added: “I just hope my daughter’s watching because daddy can still ride.”