Popular rider Ian Hutchinson is ready to put his injury nightmare behind him and establish Kent team FFX Yamaha in the British Superbike Championship.

The 34-year-old, whose leg was shattered in an horrific accident at Silverstone in 2010, is gearing up for his first full season in the BSB after years of rehabilitation.

And Hutchinson, who once won all five solo races at the Isle of Man TT, is fully fit and excited to be back in the paddock.

He said: "Before my accident, I used to love going racing every single week on the roads and the short circuits, so I can’t wait to be busy, back racing. I know the bike well and I’m looking forward to the British Superbike Championship."

Hutchinson was at Glow, Bluewater, on Friday for the unveiling of the FFX Yamaha RI bike, where he shared the story of his injury.

He said: "I was taken out by another rider and then one of the back markers rode over my leg, which smashed my tibia and fibula badly into pieces. I had an external fixator on and numerous operations, trying to rebuild the bone.

"I had a lot of skin grafts because the arteries were severed, so I didn’t have good blood supply to my foot. It came, three or four times, to the point where I was nearly going to have my leg amputated.

"As soon as I was airlifted from the track, they told me they were going to amputate.

"I fought for it to be saved and ended up with a surgeon who understood what I wanted to come back and do, so he did everything he could to save my leg and make it capable to go racing again."

Read the full interview, and one with FFX's Superstock 600 rider Andy Reid, in this week's Folkestone & Hythe Express.