Hutchinson: "We ran out of fuel!"

Author: Oli Rushby Pics: Pacemaker Press Posted: 09 Jun 2015

Ian Hutchinson came dangerously close to losing out on his second TT victory of the week in today’s Royal London 360 Superstock race with his Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki running out of fuel at the Bungalow on the final lap.

The Bingley Bullet says his ZX10-R cut out on him up on the mountain, some six miles from the finish line.

Fortunately he managed to bring it home and with a fresh tyre in after his pitstop, he increased the gap to second-placed Michael Dunlop to 19 seconds.

“We ran out of fuel at the 32nd milestone on the second lap, Guy [Martin] got back past me so I just wanted to get it to the pitstop and was hoping we could get more in,” said Hutchinson.

“We filled it up at the pit and the guys also decided they were going to do the wheel change which isn’t easy on a superstock bike but it worked a treat.

“I knew I had to go hard on lap three as if I ran out of petrol again I’d have to coast it back. I opened up a bit of a gap and for most of the last lap it was plus ten but I got to the Bungalow and I was on the back of John McGuinness and the bike just cut out. I thought ‘it’s a long way back from here’ so tucked in behind John bolt upright on quarter throttle to try and get it back. I tried not to blip the throttle on gear change and every time I leant over the bike cut out. John waved me past but I didn’t really want to pass him as it would use more fuel so I came up alongside him and pointed at the tank.

“It was hard coming back from the Bungalow like that! I tipped into signpost and then the next corner and it just cut out completely, I nearly tucked the front but I just went for it, went up the curb on the pavement and the fuel kicked back in. It probably looked ridiculous but it wasn’t because I was trying too hard!”

Having taken two victories and a second place this week, Hutchinson is now a clear favourite for the second supersport race and Senior TT, set to take place on Wednesday and Friday respectively.