Rob Hodson

It was 1983 when Jim Hodson made his TT debut and whilst he’s, amazingly, only recently called time on his Isle of Man TT career, son Rob has taken up the baton, the Wigan rider having excelled at the Manx GP and now looking to follow in his Dad’s footsteps and make a significant impression at the TT.

Rob and elder brother Jamie instantly took to the Mountain Course when they made their debuts at the Manx Grand Prix in 2012 and they were soon knocking on the door of podium positions. Indeed, Rob took third in the 2013 Supertwin race with the same result coming in the following year’s Senior race but his best year came in 2015.

Riding for the experienced PRF Racing team, who’d guided Carl Rennie to TT success in the early 2000’s, he took three MGP podiums that week with the highlight being victory in the Supertwin race, a feat matched by Jamie a year later. 

Rob’s first TT campaigns saw a mixed bag of results, but he was immediately lapping above 120mph with three bronze replicas picked up in 2017. Tragedy then hit the family though as just a few months later, Jamie lost his life at the Ulster Grand Prix.

The Hodson family are TT racers through and through though and they were back in 2018 with Rob increasing his personal best lap to more than 126mph. That year and 2019 saw him pick up eight more bronze replicas but he was lucky to escape injury when he crashed just before Rhencullen during the Lightweight race.

With Jim continually by his side, Rob joined TT winners Dafabet RC Express Racing in 2020 and with family values key for all concerned, the combination reaped the rewards at TT2022. Six top twenty finishes were the outcome, five of which were inside the top 15, with sixth in the Supertwin his best TT result to date.

A surprise switch to the experienced SMT Racing team followed in 2023 but it proved to be a shrewd move as Hodson made another stride forward to have his best TT despite. A spill at Sarah’s Cottage in the Superbike race unsettled him somewhat but he ended race week with four to ten finishes which included a new personal best of fifth in the second Supertwin race. Perhaps more impressive though was tenth and a maiden 130mph lap in the Senior race and that’ll put him firmly amongst the seeded riders in 2024 where he’s sure to improve further again.

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Having won at the Manx, Rob has comfortably made the step up to the TT and is now starting to notch up some good, solid results. He’s got good potential with a great family and friends around him so there’s no reason why he can’t be a regular TT leaderboard runner. He’s benefitted greatly from his time at RC Express Racing, a team that have been loyal to the TT and helped launch many a strong, TT career. 

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