John McGuinness MBE retires from the RL360 Superstock Race 1
After delays to the starting time, due to low clouds on the mountain and damp track conditions, the Honda Racing team and John McGuinness MBE were on track for another top-ten finish, when unfortunately due to a technical problem, John had to retire from the race at Graham Memorial corner. At the time, he was running in eighth position and closing in on seventh.
Setting off third on the road with the hope of hooking onto the rear of the riders in front of him, John got his head down quickly and set an opening lap of 17:33.326 at an average speed of 128.952 mph to end the lap in eighth position.
Diving into the pits for the mandatory pitstop at the end of lap one, the Honda Racing team sprung into action to deliver yet another speedy pitstop, this time in just 37 seconds. At this stage of the race, six different Fireblades were running inside the top ten positions.
Back on the circuit and flying up towards the mountain, John was in a tight battle for eighth position with David Johnson on his C&L Fairburn Properties by Jackson Racing Fireblade just 0.8 seconds back by the time the pair fired through the Bungalow. By the time the pair had passed the Grandstand to begin their third and final lap of the race, the gap had reduced to just 0.3 seconds.
Showing his grit and determination, however, John then began to ‘pull the pin’ as he fired in three green sectors as he lapped on course to set a personal best lap of the race pulling the gap to Johnson behind to over two seconds and closing in on Conor Cummins in front, also aboard a Honda Fireblade.
Sadly, John would have to retire from the race on lap three at Graham’s due to a technical problem. He now looks ahead to racing again in three days' time for the three-lap RL360 Superstock Race 2 on Friday 9th June.
The race ended with five different Fireblades inside the top ten positions, the highest finisher of which was Michael Dunlop in second. He set a personal best lap of 133.623 mph from a standing start on lap one.
#2 John McGuinness MBE
Race two was going well for us, weather conditions were mint and the bike was working really really well again. I’ve had a bit of a mental block with this bike. The superstock bike is mint and there is nothing wrong with it but it has taken me a while to get my eye in and ride it how it needs riding.That last lap would’ve been a strong lap, we were heading for a good top-ten finish which would’ve been a nice little result for us all. But, something has failed, and it’s disappointing for us all. If I was a 25-year-old it wouldn't bother me so much, but at my age, I want to grab every single finish that I can get. Especially around the silver replica trophy area, that's where I want to be. It’s super disappointing for everybody because the Honda is super strong in the race, there were six Honda’s in the top ten at one point. It would’ve been a nice little result. I’m not going to cry about it, we will sweep that one under the table and move on.RL360 Superstock TT Race 1 - DNF
International Road Racing 2023
Isle of Man TT, RL360 Superstock TT Race 1
