Swan Yamaha’s Ian Hutchinson got in six laps of vital setup time ahead of Friday’s Isle of Man Pokerstars Senior TT and claimed an eighth pace in yesterday’s Dainese Superbike race in his first event on the island since he badly broke his leg at the end of 2010.

The Bingley man was able to gather essential data on the World Superbike-spec R1 and will now collate it all with crew chief Pete Jennings to see where they can make some improvements to the bike’s settings. Hutchinson feels the suspension is still too hard for fast laps at the island and will explore options to soften it up further.

Hutchinson said:

“We were really up against it yesterday. There are lots of other riders and teams who have been using the same bike for the last four or five years around here, so they know exactly what they need and when. We have had only four days and losing Friday’s session certainly didn’t help. I will get together will Pete tonight and see where we can make some changes to the setup. We need to make the bike much softer in order to cope with the bumps around the island but I’m confident we can do better in Friday Senior. We can also adapt what we have learned to the Superstock and Supersport bikes.”

Team principal Shaun Muir added:

“It was a fantastic first ride back on the island for Ian, considering all he has been through over the past 18 months. We will get some alterations made to not only the Superbike but also to his other Yamahas ready for the rest of the week. I am over the moon with the results from yesterday and hope to make some further progress before Friday.”




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