With the North West 200 and TT set to go ahead, who are the favourites and what can we expect?

After two painful years without international road racing, never have we been more confident that both the North West 200 and the Isle of Man TT will finally be going ahead.

With 2019 being the last time those two blockbuster events were held, what can we actually expect in 2022?

Peter Hickman's outright lap record of 16:42.778 (135.452mph) set in 2018 on a BMW S1000RR will almost certainly be broken, provided the weather on the island plays ball. Hickman will pilot FHO Racing's new BMW M1000RR model as part of the Bavarian manufacturer's official road racing effort. An upgraded engine, chassis and aerodynamics from the old S model, plus Hickman's great form in BSB will surely pay dividends.

Despite two years away, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the riders are lapping in excess of 130mph on the first night of practice, and then go from there.

Dean Harrison remains with the same team on-board a Kawasaki ZX-10RR, with the rebranded DAO Racing team. The Yorkshireman has spent the last two seasons in British Superbikes which has undoubtedly helped him improve as a rider, and he will surely be Hickman's closest rival.

You can also never discount Michael Dunlop and Ian Hutchinson, although no announcement has yet been made over their teams and choice of machinery. Conor Cummins and James Hillier have both always been there or there abouts, with Cummins remaining with Padgetts Honda and Hillier on-board RICH Energy OMG Racing's Yamaha machinery after many years with Bournemouth Kawasaki.

Twenty three-time TT winner John McGuinness makes a fairytale return to Honda, and is set to make his 100th TT start with the manufacturer he's achieved the majority of his success with. He will be joined by newcomer Glenn Irwin, who is undoubtedly the favourite for the Superbike races at the North West 200, and I thing we can expect good things from Glenn at the TT. I don't think a 130mph lap and top ten finish by the end of the TT fortnight is an unrealistic goal for the Ulsterman, and there's certainly no better team-mate to learn from than McGuinness.

John McGuinness is back at Honda for his 100th TT start

A new era for Supersport and Supertwins

The Supersport and Supertwins classes also promises to be exciting, with more riders generally in with a chance of winning. Lee Johnston and Jamie Coward both fall into that category in both classes. Johnston took his maiden TT win in 2019 in the Supersport race, while Coward was denied victory in the Lightweight race that year by Paton-mounted Michael Dunlop.

Johnston will be riding a brand-new Aprilia RS660 which is an exciting prospect. Having Aprilia join the likes of Kawasaki and Paton will make Supertwins more diverse and (probably) more appealing to the spectators.

It will also be interesting to see what the new regulations are in the Supersport class in road racing, whether they will mirror the World and British Supersport regs. Triumph Street Triples (765cc), Ducati V2 Panigales (959cc) and the MV Agusta F3 800 are now all eligible in the Supersport class in World SBK and BSB, but will there be any on the North West 200 and TT grids? Assuming there are, the Supersport class, for me, is exciting because it's more open and anyone can win. Adding those manufacturers to the class will only make it even more exciting.

Reduced TT grids a good thing for safety

TT organisers have announced the grids for the 1,000cc races (Superbike, Superstock and Senior) will be reduced to fifty riders. For the Supersport and Supertwins classes the figure is slighty higher at sixty.

While this has been deemed a controversial move by many, I personally see this as a good thing in the context of safety.

We have to remember the TT is the most prestigious road race in the world, with the best riders. In recent years, you had riders like Peter Hickman lapping at 135mph coming across backmarkers who are 15mph a lap slower. It is a gulf in class and, for me, backmarkers at the TT spells danger.

I agree it does cause problems. TT riders are not allowed to compete at the Manx Grand Prix in the modern classes, so this does leave quite a few riders in no man's land. Inevitably, there will be several riders at the TT who won't qualify for the races they have entered. Perhaps any rider who has never lapped the TT course at a certain speed should be allowed to compete at the Manx Grand Prix, where they can prove themselves in that environment. 

There's no easy fix and it's impossible to make rule changes without pissing people off, but I do believe in a 'quality over quantity' approach when it comes to the TT. It's dangerous enough as it is and it always will be, but I'm all for increased safety measures even if that means reducing grid sizes.

But after a painful three years, I'm very excited for TT 2022 to finally go ahead!