The Morecambe Missile, John McGuinness MBE, has celebrated his 100th start in Isle of Man TT competition.
John, riding the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP Superbike, was in the thick of the action, inside the top 10, posting impressive 129mph lap times, and coming home in fifth place.
The race ran under near-cloudless blue skies and the warmest temperature seen since the beginning of qualifying (16ºC). Getting underway shortly after midday, John was the first rider on the course, riding with the number one plate on his special '100th TT' liveried Fireblade, to celebrate his 100th TT Race start.
John repeated his excellent form from qualifying, consistently lapping at 128mph to 129mph, climbing from 10th (after lap one) through to fourth place after three laps. John held on to fourth place until the second refuel when rival Ian Hutchinson snuck ahead. John closed the gap to just 1.5-seconds with a lap to go but 'Hutchy' held on to the finish. John and the team were nonetheless very happy with his result, and to have been knocking on a podium finish after a layoff of so many years, on a new machine, is an impressive result.
The Honda Racing UK team will return to the TT Mountain Course on Monday 6 June for the four-lap RL360 Superstock TT.
‘’I’m so happy with the result today’’, John said after the race.
‘’To be back here on the Fireblade and with this team has been like coming home, I'm so grateful to Harv (Havier Beltran – team manager) for bringing me back into the team. And at the end of the day it's my 100th start, it's been a wonderful day celebrating that with my family, the team and the fans. I've never seen so many on the course, and they're all waving. It's been special.
’’It's also been serious. I'm on a Superbike and there's no getting away from it, they're hard to ride, seriously powerful things. Before the start we figured to bring it home in the top six would be a realistic result, so it's good to do that, although I can't deny I feel I let the team down a bit. There again I know my limits, you have to bring it home.
‘’Also, I have to doff my cap to my teammate, Glenn. That was an incredible result, and to lap at nearly 130mph in your first race, he's a special talent.’’
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