Rob Hodson secures ex-Michael Dunlop Honda Superbike for 2025 Isle of Man TT campaign with SMT Racing
Rob Hodson will compete for SMT Racing for a third successive season in 2025 at the Isle of Man TT.
Hodson will ride an ex-Michael Dunlop Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR-R in the Superbike and Senior races and is also Honda-mounted in the Superstock class for Robin Croft’s outfit.
The Wigan man will rely on Yamaha machinery for the Supersport class on a YZF-R6 and a Paton S1-R for the Supertwin races.
The 38-year-old earned his best TT result in 2023 with fifth in the Supertwin class, while Hodson rounded off race week with tenth in the blue riband Senior, setting a new personal best lap of 130.327mph, which was his first lap in excess of the 130mph mark.
A crash in qualifying at Whitegates last year hampered his progress but Hodson bagged four more top-15 results, including seventh in the second Supertwin TT race.
“Overall, I was pleased with last year’s results as it was another solid week of riding,” he said.
“We had the off in qualifying and, of course, poor weather, so I perhaps didn’t make as much progress as I would have liked but four top 15 finishes are nothing to be sniffed at.
“One of the most pleasing aspects about the year ahead is continuing with SMT Racing for a third year; we’ve had a good couple of years already so 2025 will hopefully be more of the same.
“I’m also looking forward to having my first TT on a full-blown Superbike thanks to the team purchasing the bike from Hawk Racing. We ran it at the Macau Grand Prix in November, so I already have a few miles under our belt,” added Hodson.
“We’ve a good set up across the classes and I’ll be aiming to get back in amongst the top ten and 130mph+ laps in the big bike races.
“Whilst running four bikes this year will bring its own challenges, if I can make progress on them all, we’ll have another good TT so that’s the clear aim.”