TT 2022: ‘It was good fun chasing Dunlop’ - Hillier

James Hillier’s quest for another podium at this year’s Isle of Man TT Races will have to wait another day after the Rich OMG Yamaha rider finished fifth in the morning’s Supersport race and was then forced out of the evening’s Superstock race – before it had even started – due to an issue with the electronics on his R1 Yamaha.

Chasing his 15th TT podium, Hillier slotted into fifth place at the end of the opening lap of the Supersport race with a lap of 125.582mph but a good pit stop by his team brought him right into podium contention. Indeed, going into the third and final lap, the Hampshire rider was occupying the final podium position albeit just with Peter Hickman only 0.1s adrift in fourth. Both the latter and Lee Johnston lapped in excess of 127mph on their final lap, Johnston’s being 128.417mph, and Hillier ultimately slipped back to fifth and the chequered flag. “Fifth in the race is frustrating because I think there was a tiny bit more from me,” said Hillier. “The pace is hot, so fast now around here to even get on the podium but I’ve got some information to work on now.

“I don’t really need to make any changes to the bike, I just need to work on myself and some sectors, perhaps, just to try and find a little bit more for race two on Wednesday. “Overall, I enjoyed the race to be honest, it was good fun chasing Michael (Dunlop) when he came past. He just gapped me a bit to Ginger Hall and I couldn’t ever pull it back so that was the end of that. It got the second race of the week done though so we’ll try again and try to improve upon fifth.”