McGuinness on a mission as he claims 18th TT victory
Tuesday 05 June: Honda TT Legend John McGuinness took his 18th Isle of Man TT victory today in a thrilling Superbike opener that saw the Morecambe man tackle the six-lap, 226-mile race with poise and control. Kiwi Bruce Anstey was 3rd.
Having
started from the number one spot, McGuinness dropped briefly into third
place on lap one before regaining the lead ahead of World Endurance
team-mate Cameron Donald in second and Guy Martin in third. He proceeded
to widen the gap with every lap, aided by two slick pit stops by the
Honda TT Legends crew.
By the end of lap five, McGuinness has built up a lead of
over 14 seconds on Donald, while fellow Honda rider Bruce Anstey had
passed Martin to take third. The final lap went smoothly with no change
to the line-up, leaving McGuinness to cross the finish line first,
claiming his 18th Isle of Man TT win and his seventh in the Superbike
class (formerly the Formula 1 class).
Today’s victory takes Honda’s tally of TT wins to 161 – 58
of which have been won by the Louth-based team behind the Honda TT
Legends. McGuinness was joined on the podium by Donald (Wilson Craig
Racing) and Kiwi Bruce Anstey (Padgett’s MMCG Racing) to make up a Honda 1-2-3.
Simon Andrews suffered a high speed crash on lap one of the race. He
was conscious and taken to hospital where x-rays showed a cracked
shoulder, a broken wrist and a broken ankle on his previously injured
right leg.
The 2012 Isle of Man TT races will continue on Monday (tonight NZ time) with the Supersport and Superstock races.
John McGuinness: We’ve been doing a lot of testing and riding in the
lead up to this race, including the Bol d’Or 24-hour, so we’ve done a
lot hours on the bike. We came here off the back of a great North West
200 and we just hit the ground running. I set off number one, I had a
clear road and there wasn’t anybody there to trip me up. I got stuck in
from the start and when I saw that Cameron was in front of me at the end
of lap one I just knew I needed to dig deep. Our crew in the pits are
fantastic – they seem to have a magic wand that gets me out of there
five seconds faster than anyone else so this is big credit to them. To
compete in the TT and to finish a TT is incredible; to win one is
amazing but to win 18, well I’m just lost for words.
Neil Tuxworth: That is the 18th win for John and the 58th win for our
team on the TT circuit in the last 22 years, so we’re over the moon.
What’s even more pleasing is that it was a Honda 1-2-3 and there were
five Hondas in the top six, which proves what a great race machine the
Fireblade is. From John’s point of view, he just controlled the race. I
knew after the first two laps that we had nothing to worry about because
he knows how to win a TT. He started increasing the lead and he was
totally in control as always. Another excellent TT win from John. It’s a
huge shame for Simon that his TT is over but we are all pleased to hear
that he is alert and chatting with his chief mechanic from hospital.
We'll bring updates on his situation as we get them.