Ian Hutchinson set to celebrate 20 years of racing at this year's Briggs Equipment North West 200

The 44 year old became ill while cycling in Spain last February but is now fully recovered and will be on the grid at Portrush for race week on May 6-11.

Hutchy’s North West return will mark two decades since he made his debut at the north coast races but the Yorkshireman admits he doesn’t have particularly happy memories of his first appearance on the 8.9 mile Triangle course after he crashed out of the opening Newcomers’ practice session.

“I had won the Senior Manx Grand Prix Newcomer’s race the year before and thought I would give the North West a go," Hutchy recalled during a recent visit to the scene of the incident at Millbank Avenue.

“I was completely on my own in the paddock and wasn’t really properly prepared as I set off in the first newcomers’ practice on my 600. Then the session was red flagged when someone crashed out at Black Hill and went over the cliff!”

Because of his inexperience, the gearing Hutchy had set on his Supersport machine was too low for the long North West straights. Struggling to change sprockets by himself during the break in proceedings, he ran out of time and was forced to jump on to his Superstock machine when the action resumed. A few seconds later he slid off at the first corner.

“A week in hospital with a cracked pelvis wasn’t a great start to my North West 200 career,” he recalled ruefully. Undaunted by the painful experience, Hutchy would claim the first of three North West 200 victories just two years later in the Supersport class on a McAdoo Kawasaki.

“That was a special moment, winning a North West race with a local team,” he said. In 2010 Hutchinson claimed a second 600cc victory at Portrush on a Padgett’s Racing Honda before going on to become the first rider to win all five solo races at that year’s Isle of Man TT with the Padgett’s squad. Another hat-trick during the 2010 Ulster Grand Prix emphasized his supremacy but Hutchy’s joy was shattered when he suffered a serious leg injury in a BSB crash at Silverstone just a few weeks later.

Enduring over 40 operations, Hutchinson battled his way back into contention on the roads but his career has been marked by a mixture of triumph and adversity ever since.

Alongside further success at the TT, UGP and Macau, Hutchy’s third and final NW200 triumph came in 2016 on a Tyco BMW when he got the better of Alastair Seeley at Metropole on the final lap to claim victory in a thrilling Superstock race.

“That win was particularly sweet because Alastair can outsmart anyone at the North West,” said Hutchinson, who has enjoyed a total of 13 podium finishes at the north coast event.

“To beat Alastair on the last lap of that race on a day when he became the event’s most successful rider was special.”