Padgett's Honda's John McGuinness took his first pole of the season and almost his second win at Silverstone in the Metzeler National Superstock 1000cc championship continuing on from his success at Croft.
McGuinness moved from Supersport to the the litre Superstock bikes this year and apart from a couple of non-scoring rounds, the 15-time TT winner has always finished in the top five and stood on the podium six times, while continuing his legendary road racing success. 
When asked why the season is going so well and how he keeps improving, he said: “I don’t know what to put it down to maybe the 1000cc just suits me a bit better.  I don’t know why but when we went testing in Spain in March I jumped on the Superstock and got on with it straight away.  We’ve been fine tuning it at every round and its just been getting it better and better.
“Brogan won the championship on the bike last year so we have all the base settings at all the tracks so that helps. We’ve been fine tuning it at every round and its been getting better and better.  Also I had success at the North West and TT so that starts a bit of a ball rolling and you get on a crest of a wave.”
It’s hard to believe that at the start of the year he didn’t think he would win a Superstock race or a British championship race until he saw he had the same pace as the front runners and it was possible.
Reviewing the tenth round at Croft where he took the maximum 25 points, he said: “I’ve been racing a long time and raced all sorts of bikes but that was one of the most exciting and closest races I’ve had in years.  I was there to pick up the bits at the end and I knew something was going to happen between Alastair [Seeley] and Steve [Brogan].
“I saw it unfolding going towards the last lap and I was in the right place and the right time to nick the win. But even if I had finished third, fourth or what ever I was involved in one of the hardest, closest races of the year.  It was also nice for me and Scotty [Smart] to be on the podium together again as we were on the podium 12 years ago in 250s.  The only difference is he’s got less hair and I’ve got a fatter belly other than that I am still the same underneath and I am still riding bikes.”
When asked as a rider who has done everything were there any challenges left in his career, he said: “I’ve pretty much done everything there’s no stone unturned really.  I still want to ride at the TT, I still enjoy going and riding really competitive big bikes, lapping the course at daft speeds and then standing on the top step hearing your anthem. It’s just a sweet feeling.
“I would like to go back to Daytona and may be do that again, maybe try and win again in America.  But so long as I am on two wheels, fit and healthy, have the support from my family which I have, there is still a bit left in me yet.  As soon as I am wasting petrol and tyres for the team I won’t do it, at the moment we are riding as good as anybody, there’s 32 riders on the grid and we’re at the top of the sheets.”