John McGuinness heads to TT buoyant
After a three-year absence, John McGuinness made his return to the International North West 200 road races last week and it proved to be a successful return with the Honda Racing rider taking a brace of fifth place finishes on Saturday.
Having had an indifferent time at the event in 2019 and then missing out due to the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, John had plenty of work to do in qualifying on Tuesday and Thursday but he diligently went about his business and although he would have liked his grid positions to have been higher, eighth in the Superstock class the highest, he was in confident mood ahead of the races.
Opting out of Thursday evening’s Superstock race, which took place in cold, wet conditions, the feature race day on Saturday was, thankfully, dry and sunny all day with large crowds lining the 8.9-mile circuit linking the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush and John opened his account for the day with a solid 11th in the first Superbike race.
However, from that moment on, he featured a lot more prominently on the leaderboard with the six lap Superstock race seeing him lap in excess of 120mph on the CBR1000RR Honda Fireblade. Seventh at the end of lap one, he enjoyed a good race long battle with Michael Sweeney, Dominic Herbertson and Nathan Harrison and although Sweeney got the better of him, his fine efforts were rewarded with a strong fifth place at the chequered flag.
The feature Superbike race, held over the longer distance of seven laps, saw a number of riders withdrawn due to tyre issues. Completing the opening lap in an excellent fourth place, John spent all race battling with regular roads sparring partners James Hillier, Michael Rutter and Ian Hutchinson the latter joining the group after overshooting University early on. He eventually took fourth place and although John crossed the line in sixth place, Hillier was penalised ten-seconds for overshooting the Juniper Chicane and that meant John took his second successive fifth place finish to wrap up a fine day’s racing on the Causeway Coast.
It was a good day for John’s Honda Racing team with young team-mate Glenn Irwin winning both Superbike races to make it six wins in a row at the event.
John McGuinness
“The weather on Tuesday and Thursday made it a challenging week but it all came good on Saturday. With some good weather, a huge crowd and no red flags, I had decent pace in all of my races and the Hondas never missed a beat. I haven’t got the pace to run with the likes of Glenn and so have to be realistic about my results, but I think both I and the team can be pleased with what we’ve achieved today.
“I was a bit unsettled in the first Superbike race as Brian McCormack’s rear tyre delaminated in front of me and there were bits of rubber flying everywhere. I was concerned for Brian and although he kept it all under control, it took me a while to get back into a decent rhythm. After that though, it all went well and whilst it was tough going to have a Superstock and Superbike race back-to-back, two top five finishes is no mean feat around here and it was good to do battle with James, Hutchy and Michael.”
John now turns his attention to the Isle of Man TT Races with the 26-time winner’s campaign getting underway on Sunday 29th May when the opening practice session takes place.
He will contest the Superbike and Superstock events with Honda Racing and recently announced a rekindled collaboration with SMT racing for a Supersport campaign, McGuinness will pilot the team’s new CBR600RR in the two four-lap races.
It will be five years since SMT Racing, owned by businessman and long-time road racing enthusiast Robin Croft, contested the TT but he and McGuinness are no strangers to each other with the Morecambe Missile riding for the team at the Macau Grand Prix between 2010 and 2012.
The combination of McGuinness and SMT Racing scored three top seven finishes back then and McGuinness and Croft have remained in contact ever since, with the latter assisting John in his Ducati TriOptions Cup campaigns in 2020 and 2021.
John McGuinness
“Robin and I have enjoyed some good days in the past, so I’m delighted he’s backing my TT campaign. Being out in the two Supersport races was vital to me as you can’t afford to miss any practice sessions or track time nowadays.
“We’ve put together a good package; the CBR600RR Honda will be more than competitive and I’ve got a good little team around me, so it complements my rides with Honda Racing in the 1000cc races really well. I’m confident we’ll give a good account of ourselves and am just looking forward to getting going.”
SMT Racing have a good track record at the Isle of Man TT having won the opening Sidecar race in 2013 with Tim Reeves/Dan Sayle and taken numerous top ten positions in the solo races with riders including Michael Rutter and Dan Stewart.
Practice for this year’s Isle of Man TT Races is scheduled to get underway on Sunday 29th May.
