John McGuinness endures 'a bit of a panic' before setting fastest practice time
The fastest man during the opening practice session of the 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy has revealed there was a last minute panic before he took to the Mountain course.
John McGuinness, who set the top time during Monday evening’s rain-hit practice session, said he was unable to find his back protector as the session neared and had to borrow one from Honda TT Legends teammate Keith Amor.
The 15-times TT winner admitted it had caused ‘a bit of a panic’ ahead of the first taste of Mountain course action, but hadn’t affected his performance.
The Morecambe star topped the timing sheets with a 122.838mph average lap around the 37.7-mile course before the session was stopped due to heavy rain.
Opting to leave the line late, McGuinness set off with Amor and the duo spent two entire laps circulating in close formation. After a steady opening lap, McGuinness pressed on a little more second time around and took the fastest Superbike time, ahead of Amor and East Coast Racing Honda rider Gary Johnson.
The outright lap record holder returned to the pits to jump on the Padgetts Honda Superstock bike, but only managed a third of a lap when the session was stopped.
McGuinness said:
“It was a bit greasy out there, dusty and windy in places too, so I just had a bit of a cruise round on the opening lap to see where it was bad and where it wasn't.”
“I also had to borrow a back protector off Keith as I couldn't find mine and it was all a bit of a panic!”
“It was good to be back out there though and get the first laps out of the way and although it still wasn't great, I was able to press on a little bit more second time around.”
“It was starting to spit with rain over the Mountain though so I just backed off a bit and brought the bike home.”
“I then went out on the Padgetts bike before getting the red flag so it was a shame we couldn't get a whole session in, but two laps on the big bike were definitely valuable.”
“Having done all the Endurance racing, I feel really race sharp and the bike’s feeling a million dollars so I'm glad we're all up and running now and can look forward to the rest of practice week in a good frame of mind.”
The second practice session is scheduled for this evening, with the first solo machines expected out at 6.20pm and the sidecar outfits from about 8pm.
The Mountain section of the course will close to the public at 5pm, with the rest of the course closed by 6pm.
Roads will start re-opening no later than 9.30pm, with the Mountain section open one hour later.
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