James Hillier Secures 2025 Isle of Man TT Ride
James Hillier has bagged himself a ride at this year’s Isle of Man TT with Bournemouth Kawasaki
Road racing veteran James Hillier has secured a deal to compete at the 2025 Isle of Man TT after securing a ride with Bournemouth Kawasaki.
Hillier was originally set to contest the 2025 TT races with OMG Racing’s rebranded squad for the roads, WTF Racing. However, those plans went kaput when OMG Racing announced it would be leaving the British Superbike championship as well as ending all its road racing commitments.
The decision from OMG Racing put Hillier in a deep hole as he found himself with very limited options as most established teams had already signed riders for the event.
His teammate, Dominic Herbertson, was also left with very few options as he began a GoFundMe page to try and secure enough cash to set up his own bikes in order to race across the different categories. Herbertson has also linked up with Melbray Racing to compete in the Supertwin TT class.
However, Hillier has now found a new team, and it’s one that is very familiar to the TT winner.
Hillier said: “After a difficult few days, it was great to secure a ride back with Pete and Bournemouth Kawasaki, especially as it was back with my Kawasaki ZX-6R from last year. We both know what we need to do, and I am sure we will hit the ‘25 TT running. Massive thanks to the team and everyone who has helped get this sorted at such short notice.”
The deal comes off the back of Bournemouth Kawasaki intending to sit out this year’s event, but with Hillier struggling to find a seat, the team opted to make a swift return.
Pete Extance, Team Owner of Bournemouth Kawasaki, said: “2025 started with the idea of having a year out of the TT, but when that changed, we were only too happy to speak with James and put a deal together for him to ride the Bournemouth Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R.
“It didn’t take long for us to agree on a deal with James to return, and we set to work preparing the bike for the TT starting in the last week of May. We firmly believe James and the team have podium potential, and hopefully, that second TT career win that James richly deserves.”
The 2025 Isle of Man TT gets underway on May 26 and ends with the Senior TT race on Sunday, June 7.
Find all the latest road racing news on Visordown.com
After graduating with a sports journalism degree, Robert joined Crash.net to lead the WorldSBK coverage in 2021, while also providing MotoGP coverage. Fulfilling that role for over three years, Robert was able to put his knowledge about all things racing to the test.
