Tommy Hill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Twin Peaks character, see Deputy Hawk.
Tommy Hill is a British motorcycle road racer, born 9 February 1985 in Lingfield, Surrey, who races for Virgin Mobile Yamaha in the British Superbike (BSB) championship. Hill's early racing life included a near-fatal motocross accident in which he lost a kidney and his spleen. As a result, medical problems including a bout of food poisoning in 2006 have dogged his career.
He switched to road racing in 2001, and first earned his BSB ride by winning the Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup in 2003. In his first season he became the youngest rider ever to start a race on the front row of the grid, and he was the only one of the team's four 2004 riders to be retained for 2005 - team boss Rob McElnea commenting that "He really did prove himself beyond everyone’s expectations this year". In 2005 he took 2 further front row starts, as well as his first BSB win at Cadwell Park, finishing 12th overall in the series.
For the 2006 World Superbike season he was the only Yamaha rider to retain his ride, leading a young team with Billy McConnell and Kieran Clarke. Tommy was also entered for the World Superbike race at Brands Hatch as a wild card. In changeable qualifying conditions he stunned the experienced regulars by taking pole position, and then finished both races in the lower reaches of the points.
In 2007, Tommy will be joined in the Virgin Yamaha squad by James Haydon, who returns to tne team for whom he raced for in 2004.