CONOR CUMMINS

Conor Cummins is arguably, the most laid back road racer at the Isle of Man TT Races and sometimes it’s hard to imagine him tearing round the Mountain Course at breath-taking speeds given his languid demeanour in the paddock!

But he most certainly does, and to devastating effect, with the Manxman currently experiencing some of his best years in racing.

His feats are even more amazing given the horrifying events of 2010 when, in front of the TV helicopter he crashed heavily at the Verandah and cartwheeled down the hill. The injuries were equally horrific but if one thing was on his side, it was his age – he was just 24 at the time – as his fitness meant he was able to return to racing less than a year later. It took a while to get back up to the podium exploits of 2009 and 2010 but when he did just that in 2014, there was no more popular result.

A product of 125cc racing and the Virgin Mobile R6 Cup many so called experts were critical of his decision to first tackle the TT aged just 20 in 2006 but he quickly proved them wrong and although he slipped down the pecking order somewhat after losing his ride with Honda Racing in 2016, the Ramsey man has been revitalised in recent years, something for which he, along with the Padgetts Honda team, must take great credit for.

The values and work ethic of the family-run team match those of Cummins and beneath the quiet exterior lies a steely determination. Michael Dunlop, Peter Hickman and Dean Harrison may have taken all the headlines in recent years, but Cummins has been as good as anyone else and that’s been seen in his run of podiums in the Superbike and Senior races, having finished on the rostrum in all four of those races in both 2018 and 2019.

Two more third place finishes were taken in 2022, in the Superstock and Senior races with the former seeing him set a new personal best lap of 133.116mph and become just the fifth rider to break the 133mph barrier. Illness hindered him in 2023, and there were further issues in 2024 so much so that he left the Padgetts team midway through race week.

Rumours circulated that he was finished with racing, but he was quick to squash those rumours and has signed for the highly professional Burrows Engineering/RK Racing team. Their BMW should suit him just fine and the challenge remains to try to bridge the gap to the front runners and grab that elusive, much yearned for victory.

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