DAVEY TODD

Like Guy Martin and Dean Harrison before him, Davey Todd took to road racing like the proverbial duck to water and it only took two years of racing on the roads for him to get a factory ride with Honda Racing, the most successful manufacturer in the history of the Isle of Man TT Races.

That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the talents of the 2022 Pirelli National Superstock Champion.

Disillusioned, at the time, with the short circuit scene, Todd made the switch to the roads in the autumn of 2017 with outings at Armoy and Scarborough, but it was the following year when he confirmed his potential and tag of the hottest property in road racing. Indeed, his TT debut saw him take two top ten finishes and lap at more than 128mph to become the second fastest newcomer ever at the time.

2019 saw Todd undoubtedly build on that promise. Riding for the Penz13.com team in the 1000cc classes and for the shrewd, experienced Milenco by Padgett’s Motorcycles team in the Supersport category, he finished in the top ten in all five of his races, lapping at close to 126mph in the latter.

However, he saved the best until last and whilst sixth place in the Senior was an excellent result, so too was his fastest lap of 131.491mph, a stunning effort in just his second year on the Mountain Course. He had to overcome tragedy to achieve all the above too as close friend and near neighbour Daley Mathison sadly lost his life during the Superbike race.

With a win at the North West 200 and podiums at the Ulster Grand Prix and Classic TT, as well as victory in the IRRC Superbike series, Honda snapped him up before others did although the Covid pandemic meant he was unfortunate to lose his ride when the TT was cancelled for a second year in 2021.

It saw him switch to the Padgetts team on a full-time basis and he was a revelation in 2022 wherever he rode with the aforementioned Superstock Championship coming his way along with victory at the Southern 100 and Scarborough. At the TT, he was fast right from the word go and took his first podium, third, in the Superstock race as well as fourth and a 132mph+ lap in the Senior.

The hottest property in racing, many expected Todd to build on those results in 2023 and seriously challenge Peter Hickman, Dean Harrison and Michael Dunlop for the race wins but it didn’t pan out that way. He improved his lap speed to just shy of 133mph, but he was some way off the pace to where he needed to be with two fourth place finishes his best results.

It led to him splitting from the Padgetts team a couple of months later – something that was unimaginable at the start of 2023 – only to be immediately snapped up by the Milwaukee BMW team where he delivered a second National Superstock Championship title in 2024.

However, it was his performances at that year’s TT that saw him become the latest in a long line of TT winners, superb victories being taken in the Superstock and Senior races. Finishing on the podium on five occasions, his speeds leapt up further with a best of 135.664mph making him the third fastest of all-time. The ‘big three’ of Hickman, Dunlop and Harrison became the big four and it’ll be interesting to see how he performs with the favourite tag on his back, especially as he’s now team-mates to Hickman at 8TEN Racing.

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NOTHING BUT DAVEY TODD AT THE TT