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James Hillier (motorcyclist)

James Hillier (born 17th March, 1985) is a British motorcycle racer and an Isle of Man TT race winner. Hillier is considered to be one of the leading road racers of his generation and after his victory around the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course in the 2013 Lightweight race, he now has a total of 14 podium finishes.

Early career

Born and raised in Ringwood, Hampshire, Hillier came to prominence in the Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup where he competed against future British Champions Tommy Hill and Cal Crutchlow but after a number of seasons in the British Supersport Championship, he made his debut at the Isle of Man TT Races in 2008 where he was immediately successful. Indeed, 17th and 19th place finishes in the two Supersport races saw him win two silver replicas along with the coveted Newcomers Trophy, an award previously won by, amongst others, David Jefferies and Guy Martin.

2009

For the 2009 season, Hillier joined the Bournemouth Kawasaki Racing team, who he would remain with for the next ten years, contesting all solo races at the Isle of Man TT as well as the British Superstock 1000 Championship.

His second year at the TT saw him ride a 1000cc bike on the Mountain Course for the first time, and the promise shown in his debut year was realised when he took a brilliant ninth place in the Senior when he also lapped the 37.73-mile course at more than 125mph for the first time.

His consistency, which has since become a hallmark of his career, could also be seen as he finished inside the top twenty in his four other races - 14th in the Superstock, 17th and 18th in the two Supersport encounters and 18th in the Superbike.

On the short circuits, Hillier also had a good year finishing ninth overall in the British Superstock Championship with his best results being fourth at both Brands Hatch and Thruxton Circuit.

Hillier completed his season with a first time appearance at the Macau Grand Prix where, riding for AIM Racing alongside Gary Johnson, he finished in 16th place.

2010

Making his debut at the North West 200 road races in Northern Ireland, Hillier took a best finish of 19th in both the Superbike and Superstock races with the TT seeing him take three top twenty finishes, the best of which was 12th in the Superstock race where he again lapped at more than 125mph.

He was forced to retire from the Superbike race and then crashed at slow speed at Creg-ny-Baa, Isle of Man during the Senior race. He wouldn’t have another DNF at the TT until the 2017 Superstock race.

His season finished at Macau once more although he was out of luck on this occasion, retiring with two laps to go.

2011

The North West 200 was decimated by poor weather, an oil spillage and even a bomb hoax, which resulted in just one race taking place so Hillier, like all other competitors, headed to the TT with very little track time.

Nevertheless, James made another significant stride up the leaderboard with four top ten finishes from his five races with his best result coming in the opening Superbike race where he took a good eighth place. He finished ninth in both the Senior and second Supersport races whilst he also claimed tenth in the Superstock and 12th in the first Supersport race.

A third visit to Macau was more productive this time around as he claimed 11th place at the end of the 10-lap race, ahead of both Michael Dunlop and William Dunlop (motorcyclist).

2012

2012 saw Hillier make a significant breakthrough at the TT when he claimed his first podium after finishing in a good second place to Ryan Farquhar in the reintroduced Lightweight race which saw both Farquhar and Hillier ride ER6 650cc Kawasaki’s.

The Senior race was cancelled due to inclement weather, the first time the Blue Riband event was cancelled since the event began in 1907, but a Hillier finished inside the top seven in his four other races with fifth and seventh in the two Supersport races, sixth in the Superstock race and seventh in the Superbike.

Earlier in the season, he took his first podium finish at the North West 200 when he finished third behind Michael Rutter (motorcyclist) and Alastair Seeley in the second Superstock race after claiming sixth in the first. Fourth place was the outcome in the Supertwins race, behind Farquhar, Jeremy McWilliams and Rutter, whilst he also took strong finishes of sixth and eighth in the two Superbikes races

2013

For 2013, the team had a new title sponsor in Quattro Plant and James took another podium at the North West 200 when he finished a close second to McWilliams in the Supertwins race. Only four of the scheduled eight races took place due to inclement weather conditions but James added three more top ten finishes to his haul with eight and tenth in the two Supersport races and ninth in the Superstock encounter.

With Farquhar having retired, Hillier was favourite for honours in the 2013 Lightweight TT race and he didn’t disappoint, coming home ahead of Dean Harrison and Conor Cummins, whilst he also set a new lap record of 119.130mph.

It was another great week on the island with fourth in the Senior, fifth and sixth in the Supersport races, sixth in the Superstock race and seventh in the opening Superbike race. He also broke the 130mph barrier for the first time, lapping at 130.092mph in the Superbike race but went quicker still in the Senior with a new personal best lap of 131.386mph.

In the inaugural Classic TT meeting, also held on the Mountain Course, he finished in sixth place in the 500cc race riding a Honda for CSC Racing.

2014

Four top ten finishes were taken at the North West 200, including a best finish of fourth in the first Lightweight race, with James taking a conservative approach in the wet conditions with the TT on the horizon.

He wasn’t able to add another TT win to his collection to his haul but he did take his third successive podium in the Lightweight race after finishing a close second to Dean Harrison. He again finished inside the top ten in his five other races with fifth, in both the second Supersport and Senior races, his next best results.

At the Classic TT, James claimed a fine second place behind Bruce Anstey in the Fomula 1 race riding a 750cc Kawasaki for Greenall Racing.

2015

Continuing with the Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki team for a seventh straight year, Hillier had a solid, if not spectacular, outing at the North West 200, with three top ten finishes the outcome, seventh in the Superstock race being his best result. He also took eighth in the two Supersport races.

At the TT though, he was in brilliant form and opened his account for the week with third place behind Anstey and Ian Hutchinson (motorcyclist) in the Superbike race. Fourth place followed in the Superstock race whilst he also took fourth and sixth in the two Supersport races.

Friday’s final race day saw James take a close second behind Ivan Lintin in the Lightweight race although he did have the consolation of setting a new lap record of 120.848mph. The Blue Riband Senior race followed and after six laps, James took a brilliant second place finish behind Honda’s John McGuinness (motorcyclist) whilst he also set a new personal best lap around the 37.73-mile course at 132.414mph.

Fourth and fifth place finishes were then taken at the Classic TT in the Formula 1 and 350cc races respectively.

2019

Hillier remained with the Bournemouth Kawasaki team, now under the Quattro Plant/Wicked Coatings banner, in 2019 and started his campaign at the North West 200 once more. Good, dry conditions during Thursday evening’s races saw James in fine form and he contested the win throughout the six lap Supersport race, eventually finishing a close third behind race winner Lee Johnston and Dean Harrison. He then finished fourth in the Superstock race.

The feature race day on Saturday saw poor weather with wind and rain hitting the 8.9-mile circuit which led to a number of the leading racers opt out of the day’s proceedings. James almost joined them but decided to race and it proved to be one of the best days of his career as he was declared the Man of the Meeting as he added first and second place finishes to his results on Thursday.

The runners-up spot came in the Superbike race when he finished just 0.163s behind teammate Glenn Irwin despite riding his Superstock ZX-10RR after set up problems with his Superbike during practice. Using the same machine in the following Superstock race, he led at the end of the first lap by nine seconds, which had increased to a massive 20 seconds at half race distance. He was able to ease off in the closing stages to take his first NW200 win.

It set him up perfectly for his 12th visit to the Isle of Man TT where he opened his account for the week with fourth in the shortened Superbike race. Later in the day, he took his 13th TT podium when he finished in second place once more, this time 3.641s behind Johnston in the first Supersport race which was stopped at the end of the second lap due to rain.

The win again eluded him in the second Supersport race, which was again held over just two laps of the Mountain Course, but he was on the podium for a 14th time, 4.554s adrift of race winner Peter Hickman. Seventh place followed in the Superstock TT but hopes of ending his week with another podium in the Blue Riband Senior TT disappeared when he overshot at Ballacraine.

The time lost in rejoining the circuit dropped him all the way back to 21st place but, undeterred, he carried on and fought his way back up the leaderboard, eventually finishing in a fine fifth place. Later in the year he finished third in the Superbike Classic TT race riding an Oxford Products. Ducati.

On 14th December, it was announced that Hillier and Bournemouth Kawasaki had parted company after a successful ten years. Five days later, Hillier signed for OMG Racing where he will join Australian David Johnson for the 2020 International road racing season where he will ride BMW machinery in the Superbike and Superstock classes and Yamaha in the Supersport division.

External links

Official website www.yourmotobike.co.uk