James Hind

At the beginning of 2019, very few people had heard of James Hind. But by the end of the season, they most certainly had with the teenager coming from nowhere to establish himself as one of the hottest prospects in road racing, third place behind race winner Bruce Anstey and Davey Todd in the Lightweight Classic TT the standout performance.

A former National and Darley Moor 125cc Champion, the Lincolnshire youngster made his Mountain Course debut at the Manx Grand Prix in 2018 at the age of just 18 and it was clear he immediately clicked with the 37.73 miles. Second was the outcome in the Newcomers B race whilst he also took seventh and lapped at more than 109mph in the second Lightweight race. What followed a year later though was simply sensational.

With the legendary two-stroke guru Dennis Trollope assisting him, as well as the experienced Chris Barratt, Hind was the revelation of the Classic TT, immediately challenging Anstey for the lead in the Lightweight race. A pit lane speeding penalty dropped him down the order, but such was his pace on his 250 Yamaha, he fought his way back up to third and, in doing so, left many experienced riders trailing in his wake.

He followed this up with a brace of Lightweight wins at the Manx GP but equally impressive, maybe even more so, were his rides on a 600cc Yamaha. Hind only had a handful of four-stroke outings to his name and although he was forced to retire from both the Junior and Senior MGP races, a near 122mph lap resulted in more people sitting up and taking note.

Several top TT teams were understandably interested but he opted to run his own team at TT2022 except for the Supertwin class where he enjoyed support from ten-times TT winner Ian Lougher. The Welshman helped guide Hind to a fine seventh place, but he also impressed on his own machinery with 11th and 12th in the Supersport races and 16th in the Senior where he lapped at more than 125mph.

He improved upon this further in 2023 not only in the Supersport class, where he took a career best finish of sixth but also in the 1000cc classes where despite his diminutive stature he took three top 15 finishes and upped his pace to a mightily impressive 129.444mph. That will make him a seeded rider in 2024 and there’s no doubt Hind has what it takes to reach the very top echelons of the sport.

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