Quattro JG Speedfit (breathe) Kawasaki’s James Hiller bagged a solid third place in the opening Superbike race of TT 2018 and says he backed off on the last lap as ‘things started to get a bit loose’.

The Bournemouth man has worked on his six-lap pace all week but upped his laps into the 131s as he tried to chase down Conor Cummins for second place after Dean Harrison zipped past early doors.

“It was a bit of a weird race to be honest and I can’t remember much about it. The pace has been really hot this year and Dean has definitely upped the ante but I chipped away during practice, focusing on our race pace, and whilst it’s a cliché, you’ve got to be here at the end. Dean came by me early on lap one and it was quite a shock as to how early it was but, fair play to him, he was riding fast and smooth,” said Hiller after the race.

“I couldn’t compete with his pace today but I know what I can do round here so I focused on hitting all my apexes and braking markers and full credit to the team for giving me a bike that was more than capable of doing the six laps.

“It did get a bit loose towards the end, things like the chain beginning to show a bit of wear, so I shifted gear a bit earlier and was a bit steadier through the hard sections but we’ve got another podium. I obviously want to win but third’s a solid start and gives us something to build on for the rest of the week.”