McGuinness sets TT pace
Morecambe's John McGuinness set the pace in practice for the Isle of Man TT Races and the HM Plant Honda ace is again favourite for tomorrow’s opening Superbike race.
With the early practice sessions hit by localised showers, Thursday evening was the first completely dry session for the riders and on his second lap, McGuinness posted a lap of 129.085mph, just a handful of seconds outside his own outright lap record set 12 months ago.
The 35-year old is also handily placed in his other two races, the Supersport and Superstock. Riding his usual British Supersport Championship Padgett’s Honda, a final lap on Friday evening of 122.423mph elevated him to second on the leaderboard whilst Thursday evening's lap of 124.295mph placed him in a similar position in the Superstock class where he lines up for the first time this season on the HM Plant Honda.
Speaking at the conclusion of practice, John commented:
We're in the ball park with all of the bikes and the big bike especially has been flying - I was ready to race it on Tuesday evening! I had a bit of a go on my second lap on Thursday but I'd already used my two tear-offs, as the flies were really bad so I so had to ease off in places. I think there's more to come from both me and my bike and I'm sure in race conditions we'll be going a fair bit quicker and the magical 130mph barrier could well go.'
'The bike's a missile and it's handling really well, especially stable at high speed, and we've got the best tyres for the job so let's hope we have a good, dry race and have some high speed racing. The 600 wasn't going to my liking at the beginning of the week which was a bit strange as it's my regular British Championship bike but I just did 122mph so I'm feeling a lot better now. No-one has really upturned trees on the 600's so we've all got a fair bit more to give and we'll certainly be well in contention.'
'The Superstock bike was a similar story as we'd been experiencing a misfire problem and with the new rules allowing a quickshifter we've had all sorts of dramas trying to get that set up. I managed a half decent lap on Thursday though and the Honda is definitely in the frame this year so, all in all, I'm reasonably happy with the way things have gone and although you always want more track time, we're looking in good shape - I just want to go racing now!'
Phil Wain