TT 2025: Senior winner Davey Todd hasn't ruled out possibility of riding Superstock-spec BMW in Superbike class and confirms 'fallback option' in place
Isle of Man TT frontrunner Davey Todd hasn’t ruled out the possibility of running a Superstock machine in the Superbike class after struggling to gel with his 8TEN Racing BMW M1000RR.
The Yorkshireman is one of the TT’s big four contenders along with his 8TEN team-mate Peter Hickman, record 29-time winner Michael Dunlop and Honda Racing’s Dean Harrison.
Todd became a TT winner for the first time in 2024, beating Hickman in a Superstock shootout before claiming a dream success in the blue riband Senior.
The 29-year-old set up the 8TEN Racing team with Hickman after parting company from Faye Ho’s FHO Racing outfit.
He delivered the team’s maiden wins at the North West 200 earlier this month, sealing a hat-trick with two Superbike wins and a Superstock success.
However, the Saltburn man doesn’t quite feel at home on the Superbike and has found it difficult to make the kind of progress he had been hoping for in the British Superbike Championship.
Todd, speaking at the Donington Park BSB round prior to the TT, said running a Superstock-spec machine in the Superbike class at the TT was a “fallback option”.
“We’ve actually already brought into play a bit of a fallback option and that’s riding a ’stock bike instead of a Superbike in the Superbike class,” said the two-time British Superstock champion.
“BMW have supplied another bike and I have more feeling still with the ’stocker than I do with the Superbike, so if we don’t get that bike into a place where I’m happy by the end of the weekend [at Donington Park] then we might potentially do the first night of practice on the Superbike.
“I don’t want to waste a week of practice – who knows what the weather’s going to be like – I don’t want to waste time trying to look for something that I end up not finding and waste time on the bike when I could be getting comfortable on a ’stocker,” said Todd on the official TT podcast.
“I raced a ’stocker last year, was in the mix in the Superbike race, won the Senior on the ’stocker; the Superstock bikes are mega now, they’re good enough. Do I need to be on a Superbike? Probably not.”
Todd has reunited with Clive Padgett to ride a Milenco by Padgett’s Honda in the Supersport races and will lead a new venture for the famous team when he rides a Paton in the Supertwin class.