McGuinness wins 15th Isle of Man TT
The blistering race action of the Dainese Superbike TT more than made up for the disappointment of Saturday’s programme being postponed due to rain.
There was no one to challenge John McGuinness as the HM Plant Honda rider dominated all six laps to take the win, set a new outright lap record and set a new race record.
His only real challenger was teammate Steve Plater, but McGuinness controlled the pace to take a comfortable win.
Plater finished second, with Guy Martin third.
It was a great celebration of Honda’s 50th anniversary of racing, the Japanese giant taking all three spots on the podium.
The top three were garlanded by MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, who watched the race and is now on his lap of the TT course with fellow GP legend Giacomo Agostini.
McGuinness is now a 15-times TT winner, and set three 130mph+ laps on his way to victory – including a new outright lap record of 130.442mph on lap two, despite slowing down to pit.
TAS Suzuki’s Bruce Anstey retired at Ballacraine on lap one and after a good showing McAdoo Kawasaki’s Conor Cummins was forced out on the last lap, leaving Honda riders Ian Hutchinson and Gary Johnson to fight it out for fourth, with Hutchy taking the honours.
The first Sure Sidecar race is now due to start at 2.15pm, after Rossi and Ago finish their parade lap.