The more I think about it, I think it may be. He's sat at 14 wins now, had 5 years where he had no real chance of winning due to his injuries, and perhaps most impressive of all, he's riding a modified bike.

The only other person I can think of towards the top ranks with a modified bike after an injury was Robert Dunlop, and Hutchy seems to have breezed through the potential troubles with it.

Aside from the Superbike race this TT, which I suspect had a lot to do with Dunlop's BMW being superior in setup, Hutchy seems to be nearly impossible to catch when he's on a solid machine.

It's impossible to know, because you could say the injury made Hutchy focus and work more, but I have to think personally that had Hutchy been racing properly from 2010 to 2015, he'd have racked up quite a bit more wins. We might be looking at a situation where Hutchy is catching McPint.

I think I heard Steve Parish say Hutchy stretched his chain in the F1 and it was jumping in the lower gears.

That said I don't think he'd have beaten MD.

Hopefully it stays dry for the Senior.

He's a legend no doubt - but so are MD and McG.  It's a very special time for the TT.

Off to bed..........

Sam

This is the fascinating thing about the TT, you have to ignore the ifs, buts and maybes and concentrate on the hard facts, "to finish first you first have to finish".

Without injury IH might well have been up around JMs tally, but he isn't, fact.

You can go right back and say that had Walter Handley not been so unlucky he would have been on fifteen wins pre ww2 and Stanley Woods might only have been on four, but they're not, fact.

One fact that does remain however is that IH has proved that he is a class act by coming back to winning ways.

I keep wondering how many more TTs DJ would have won had fate not intervened, but Hutchy is certainly something special and long may he continue.

Hutchy and DJ were mates, and Hutchy helped DJ at the TT before starting racing himself, so in a way you could say that Hutchy has continued on where DJ sadly left off, and has continued to rack up the wins for his good mate.

I think that Hutchy is class but he is right on the limit.

(08-06-2016, 11:21 PM)warrior Wrote: Hutchy and DJ were mates, and Hutchy helped DJ at the TT before starting racing himself, so in a way you could say that Hutchy has continued on where DJ sadly left off, and has continued to rack up the wins for his good mate.

Be interested to know how Hutchy "helped DJ at the TT "

DJ was a class apart, a one off, I think had he still been with us he would definitely be at least on thirty wins, but as per previous post the fact remains that he isn't.......DJ was a true class act, RIP big man.

Nope

What I wanna know is why my left knee has been hurting since watching "Hutchy: Miracle Man"?

Simply amazing the adversity that he has overcome!

Funnily enough I deleted the part I wrote about DJ from my previous post.

I agree that he was completely exceptional.  There's no knowing where it could have ended up in terms of wins. But that's just my opinion (heavily influenced by age, loyalty, good memories, etc etc).

I hesitate to draw comparisons with those who have won since as I feel its unfair and at the end of the day its just hot air really.  He may have dominated - he may not have - we'll never know.

Still gutted by it. RIP


Sam

(09-06-2016, 12:34 AM)DBD 34 Wrote: Be interested to know how Hutchy "helped DJ at the TT "

DJ was a class apart, a one off, I think had he still been with us he would definitely be at least on thirty wins, but as per previous post the fact remains that he isn't.......DJ was a true class act, RIP big man.

On the spanners in his team.

(08-06-2016, 11:21 PM)warrior Wrote: Hutchy and DJ were mates, and Hutchy helped DJ at the TT before starting racing himself, so in a way you could say that Hutchy has continued on where DJ sadly left off, and has continued to rack up the wins for his good mate.

there were afew who were all good mates none more than mcguinness  they spent a lot of time together away from racing

the true greatest are the ones who are magnanimous in victory, gracious in defeat, neither IH or MD can accept being beaten, and to snipe at each other during the press conference was ,shall we say, unseemly. Sitting right next to them was a man who had just had to accept losing, he must have been embarrassed by the spat between the two. So, a great rider certainly, but until both men can curb their spite, then, sorry, no "greatest "accolade from me, yet. All credit to Hutchy for that amazing fightback from injury, of course, and he's still got time on his side, as has MD

Would MD/IH have taken the other out to dinner, just having beaten him? ( 1967, Ago lost, Hailwood won, but they dined together that evening, at Mike's invitation, having known how Ago was disappointed) . Or to move to modern times, the sidecar boys bear few if any grudges despite the on track scrapping.
Please, no abuse, this is my opinion, I've thought carefully, and I've been asked to give it, presumably.

I just watched the Senior press conference and I’d have to say it wasn’t good viewing.

For me the sportsmanship and comradery of the riders at the TT has always been a big part of the attraction. Hutchy came across as a whinger (which he often does) and MD wheeled out his usual bitter hard done by / underdog act (plus the usual veiled references to how he’s been crossed). What a contrast to McG who (as usual) showed great humility, dignity and humour.

There is no doubting that they are both exceptional TT racers and they will set the standard for the next generation but I think for the first time since I became hooked on the TT in the early 90’s I see a TT winner(s) who I wouldn’t be interested in having a beer with (either of them).

Hopefully they’ll do a Foggy and discover some of these life skills when they wrap up racing.

I’m with you Numpydad. Greatness is more than just the results.

If Hutchinson had kept his mouth shut at the press conference then all would have been well. He openly attacked Dunlop in front of thousand of people and to have expected Dunlop to have sat there and said nothing I don`t think was going to happen. I think Dunlop handled it well considering the accusations he made against him . It now appears it was a scrutineer was responsible for the rumours not Dunlop. Hutchinson is demanding an apology and rightly so but he has made no mention of apologising to Dunlop for what seems to be false accusations made in front of thousands. I don`t think I would be happy if I was Philip/Hector Neale when he suggested his bikes were inferior to Dunlops when they are  supposed to be the factory entry which BMW had taken off Stuart Hicken after he  put BMW back on the map along with Dunlop.

I was thinking much the same about the engines talk from Hutchy - by all means say you put the superstock engine in - but the rest why??????  Even 'if' it was the case that they had lesser kit than Hawk (which seems improbable but I got the impression Michael reluctantly acknowledged it in the press conference). Hector and Phil would be livid at Hutchy for bringing it up in front of the cameras after the race week is finished and rightly so IMO.

Sam

People can bang on about how this rider shared meals with this rider and so on,well they are all different and thank god.refering to the press conferance hutchy was wrong,bang out of order,threw accustaions at dunlop like a spoiled child that just go slapped.he was far from gracious in defeat.and so much wrong that he went on to say in his twitter "I won't be happy until the scrutineer involved apologises for his incompetence in creating this suspicion!"..so yes seems like hutchy was bitter.any way back to the question,should hutchy be classed as one of the all time greatest?around the TT yes,TT wins determine how good you are there,joeys the best as is,but hutchy is well up the ladder,defo a great in my books..

(09-06-2016, 12:34 AM)DBD 34 Wrote: Be interested to know how Hutchy "helped DJ at the TT "

DJ was a class apart, a one off, I think had he still been with us he would definitely be at least on thirty wins, but as per previous post the fact remains that he isn't.......DJ was a true class act, RIP big man.

Hutchy worked for Tony back in the day, not sure if he was actually part of DJ's racing set up, one thing I know for sure is that when DJ got a hat-trick of wins in 2002 for TAS he was given 3 Gixxers for the the feat and he gave one to Hutchy to race Superstock championship.

(13-06-2016, 12:43 PM)bambam Wrote: People can bang on about how this rider shared meals with this rider and so on,well they are all different and thank god.refering to the press conferance hutchy was wrong,bang out of order,threw accustaions at dunlop like a spoiled child that just go slapped.he was far from gracious in defeat.and so much wrong that he went on to say in his twitter "I won't be happy until the scrutineer involved apologises for his incompetence in creating this suspicion!"..so yes seems like hutchy was bitter.any way back to the question,should hutchy be classed as one of the all time greatest?around the TT yes,TT wins determine how good you are there,joeys the best as is,but hutchy is well up the ladder,defo a great in my books..

Well - according to BSN, it looks like Hutchy has got what he wants. And it vindicates Michael as well. It certainly was an extraordinary press conference and, if I'm honest, it did leave a little bit of a bitter taste. However, I suspect most words were spoken in the heat of the moment (at least I hope so). Michael deserved the win because on that day he was the best rider. The lap record proves that. His response was extremely mature and measured. I totally respect what Hutchy has done as a rider - it is nothing short of a miracle what he has achieved, but I was disappointed with the press conference. As we all know, there were several who lost more than a race in the last few weeks.

What's this BSN news?

hmmmm...  let me guess could it possibly be BikeSportNews.com?