Morecambe Missile John McGuinness made his annual visit to Darley Moor for the Stars at Darley meeting at the weekend and the Honda TT Legends rider ensured it was a successful visit to the Derbyshire venue when he finished third in both of the ten-lap races.

Riding his TT-winning Honda Superbike, McGuinness's main opposition came from the Buildbase BMW pairing of Richard Cooper and Barry Burrell and, indeed, it was these two who topped the timesheets in qualifying with John slotting into third with a time of 54.4s.

With dry conditions all around the 1.5-mile circuit, a good start to the opening 10-lap leg saw McPint complete the opening lap in second just behind Cooper but ahead of Burrell. The Bishop Auckland rider pushed him back to third a lap later and although McGuinness was able to keep them within his grasp for a couple of laps, they eventually pulled clear. However, some four seconds ahead of fourth placed rider Luke Stapleford, McGuinness was safe in third and took the chequered flag for a good podium position.

The second leg later in the day saw an almost exact replica of the first with McGuinness initially splitting Cooper, the recently crowned National Superstock 1000cc Champion, and Burrell before they were able to take control. Lapping quicker than he had done in the first leg, he was again able to hold off Burrell in the early stages before sticking with both riders for the first third of the race. They soon began to edge away once more so McGuinness settled for his second third place of the day, again comfortably clear of fourth placed Stapleford, to wrap another fine day at Darley.

"It's always good to come and support Darley Moor and I'm pleased to have come away with a couple of third places. I've lost count of how many years I've been coming here but the organisers have always been good to me so it was good to have another run round. Obviously, I would have liked to have taken the Trophy again but Richard and Barry were just that little bit too good for me today," said McGuinness.

"They know the track inside out and had that bit extra pace required but I stuck with them in the early stages of each leg and was comfortable in third so it's been a good weekend. It was great to be racing the Honda TT Legends Superbike once again so a big thanks to the team and also to the fans for cheering me on."