John McGuinness finally got his first points of the season on Sunday when he finished 14th in round 8 of the British Supersport Championship at Knockhill. It's been a torrid season for the Padgett's Honda rider but the two points will at least give him some confidence going into the final third of the season.
 
Conditions at the Scottish venue were mixed throughout the weekend but qualifying was held in wet weather with heavy rain falling in both sessions. Eleventh in first qualifying, almost the entire field went quicker in the afternoon session and although John improved his time to 55.653seconds, he slipped back to 14th for a place on the fourth row of the grid although times were again close, one second separating the top 20 riders.
 
The sun was shining when the race got underway but a poor start saw John slip back to 17th at the completion of the opening lap. The tight nature of the 1.2713-mile circuit meant there was little between the riders and John was embroiled in an excellent dice with Andy Weymouth and James Hillier. He got the better of both of them to move into 14th but any hopes of climbing higher were dashed when, on the 23rd lap, the red flag came out due to rain falling and the result declared.
 
Speaking afterwards, John said: "At last! It may only be 14th and two points but it's great to finally get some points on the board and the least we deserve after all of our efforts. Conditions were mixed throughout the weekend, one minute it was raining, the next it was sunny, but it was the same for everyone so I just dug deep and after getting quite a bad start I got my head down and managed to get inside the points.
 
"It's obviously not where I want to be finishing but it's a boost for all of us and I'm now really looking forward to next week's Ulster GP. I'm looking forward to getting back out on the roads and on my TT-winning Superbike so I'll be going all out to get my first big bike win at Dundrod.'