With 23 wins under his belt and the current holder of the outright lap record, John McGuinness will again head to the Isle of Man TT very much as the man to beat, in the Superbike category at least. Whilst some may have Ian Hutchinson or Michael Dunlop down as the pre-event favourites, McGuinness proved in last year’s Senior that he’s still something special around the Mountain Course.
This time last year some sceptics were beginning to wonder if his glory days were behind him, and fourth place in the opening Superbike race suggested they may have had a point. However, the Senior race scotched that viewpoint as the Honda man was never headed, not only claiming his 23rd TT win (his 22nd had come earlier in the week in the TT Zero race) but, sensationally, reclaiming the outright lap record at a stratospheric 132.701mph.
“I’m not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed with fourth in the opening Superbike race,” the 44-year-old told bikesportnews.com. “The TT’s that competitive now that you can’t afford any mistakes or have anything go wrong and everything has to be perfect if you’re to win. Unfortunately, and I’m not making any excuses, losing my tear-offs on the first lap didn’t help and we had the slowest filler at the pit stop known to man.”
With a second successive win in the TT Zero though, as well as a new lap record of 119.279mph, it gave him his 22nd win and that, allied with a day off before the Senior, put him in a good frame of mind for the Senior. For the man himself, he simply wanted to be challenging for the win.
“I just wanted to give the other guys a good run for their money and, to be fair, I couldn’t quite believe the end result myself. Setting off at number one is never easy though. As riders, we always joke about the rider who sets off first clears all the leaves, dust and wildlife but you’re out there on your own with no one to chase. You have to do the laps all by yourself so, when you do, it makes it all the more rewarding.
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