Isle of Man TT star James Hillier will make his Weston Beach Race debut next month.

The punishing sand event, which sees a mass start of hundreds of bikes and riders, is the maddest off-road race in the UK and Hillier’s aim is just to make the finish.

“The goal ultimately is just to get to the end, but I’d have to have my eye on a top 200 finish really. I’m sure when the gates open I’ll be getting the red mist and gunning for it, but I’m under no illusion that I’ll be near the front,” said Hillier.

“Kawasaki have helped me with a KX450, Metzeler have sorted me out some tyres, Muc-Off are also supporting me – there won’t be any excuse to blame the bike.

“To be honest it’s probably best I don’t find too much out before-hand and learn as I go. We’ll sort a plan out fuelling, the bike will be good, the speed element there will be good on the straight - hopefully for a rest from the other sections - and I’ll have to figure out how to tackle the dunes.

” I’ll try and learn from the riders around me. I can see the dunes are a bit mad, and there’s some luck involved too – I can’t wait

“When it comes to off-road I like enduro riding and I was brought up riding trials. Weston is something a lot of us chat about and David Knight has always been going on about it, so it’s great to have the opportunity to experience it.

“I’ve watched YouTube videos of it, and I’ve been trying to get a bit fitter for picking the bike up and so on, which will be tough – I think I’ll be okay with the three hours though.”