John McGuinness etched his name even further into the Isle of Man TT record books when he won a sensational Senior race yesterday, taking his 14th TT victory and equalling the tally of the legendary Mike Hailwood, a title that must now also be attributed to the Morecambe ace.
Riding the Padgett’s Manx Gas Racing Honda, McGuinness was embroiled in a titanic battle with Bruce Anstey and Cameron Donald and with the lead exchanging hands on no less than 8 occasions, it really was anyone’s race. However, John kept everything at the maximum and with Anstey forced out at the first pit stop with mechanical problems and Donald suffering an oil leak on the final lap, John ran out a clear winner by 51.95seconds.
Conditions were again ideal for some high speed racing with dry, sunny weather all around the course and it was John who led at Glen Helen on the opening lap but only by the almost unbelievable margin of 0.04seconds! At the end of the first lap, John found himself down to second but he was only 0.46seconds behind Anstey. The Kiwi rider began to edge away on the second lap but as they came into the pits at the first refuelling stop, he was was out and John found himself back in the lead.
However, he was now under threat from Saturday's Superbike winner Donald and the thousands of race fans were witnessing a titanic duel with the lead exchanging at almost every timing point. At two thirds race distance there was still only half a second between them (after 151 miles of racing!) and the race was going to go down to the wire - or so we thought. Donald looked like he was going to take it but, on the final lap, his bike developed problems and John was able to race clear. With the fastest lap of the race, 129.517mph, he surged ahead and he wheelied over the finish line to become the joint second most successful rider in TT history along with the aforementioned Hailwood.
McGuinness said: "What a race - absolutely incredible and what a day to do it. It's thirty years since Mike Hailwood made his comeback in 1978 and to equal his tally of wins with both Mike's wife and son here today is something special. I had a bit of forearm pump in the early stages and made a couple of mistakes and when Conor Cummins blew up in front of me, I wasn't sure if it was his bike or mine that was blowing out oil."
"We had two fantastic pit stops but I've never been in a race so close. There was nothing between any of us but I'm delighted to have taken the win. Clive and the team, Tom, Ian everyone, they all did a great job and they couldn't have done anything more for me. I thoroughly enjoyed myself out there today so I hope all the fans out on the course did as well - I'm glad the week has finished off with the British anthem playing as well!"
