Kawasaki's James Hillier got his road racing season underway in fine style at the North West 200 last night with a superb second place in the Supertwins race, just 0.8s behind race winner Jeremy McWilliams, backing this up with ninth in the Superstock and tenth in the Supersport races.
The 28-year old has shifted his focus entirely to the roads in 2013, primarily the NW200 and TT, after an excellent year in 2012 and his only previous outings this year came at the Thruxton National Superstock round and a Hot-Trax Endurance event.
“I had a good season on the roads in 2012 whilst the BSB short circuit season was the complete opposite and whilst I enjoyed the former, the latter was very frustrating. It doesn’t matter what you do, you always want to enjoy yourself and the roads give me a lot more enjoyment and satisfaction so I’ve decided to focus on these this year. Without question, success at the North West 200 and TT is my main aim for the year and I want to build on the good results from last year," he said.
Problems with the Superbike engine on Tuesday afternoon meant Hillier only had a qualifying time from Thursday’s wet session and he’ll line up in the second wave for Saturday’s two six-lap races. However, the Hampshire rider was right on the pace in the other classes, culminating in his best ever result around the Triangle, bettering his third place finish achieved in last year’s second Superstock race.
“It took me a while to get going as it was still pretty damp in the first half of the race but I was in the mix throughout and the bike’s working well. Conditions weren’t the greatest so I bided my time as it was a tough race and my first time on the Twin since last year. I just ran out of laps to make an effort on getting past Jeremy but it’s a good start.”
In just over two week’s time, Hillier will have the honour of starting every TT race from number 1, a proposition that he’s very much looking forward to, even if it does bring added pressures.
“I suppose there are pluses and minuses from being number one but I’m looking forward to having clear roads and no-one in front of me. It might bring a bit more pressure with all eyes upon you but I only ever do my own thing and what I’m comfortable with so that won’t change this year. If anyone comes by me, it will be one of the pre-race favourites so that will be beneficial as I’ll be able to learn from them and if I can hang on to them, I’ll be somewhere close to the podium.”
“I had my first podium in last year’s Supertwins race but I really want to get one this year in one of the big classes.”