John McGuinness PR:

Morecambe’s John McGuinness won a record-breaking Superbike TT race today, coming home over 18 seconds clear of HM Plant Honda team-mate Steve Plater. McGuinness also set a new outright lap record of 130.442mph on his way to claiming his 15th TT victory, the second highest total in the history of the races.

With dry, sunny conditions all around the course, McGuinness was pushed hard in the early stages by Conor Cummins on the McAdoo Racing Kawasaki and his advantage was only 5 seconds at the end of the first lap but he psuhed hard on his second lap and a new outright lap record of 130.442mph saw his lead up to 11 seconds. However, team-mate Steve Plater, who became the second man to officially lap at over 130mph with a speed of 130.122mph, cut the deficit to less than 8 seconds half way round the 3rd lap.

John responded though and later admitted that he pushed really hard on the fifth lap to pull away from his fellow Honda rider. This he duly did and with another 130mph lap on his sixth and final lap, 130.259mph, he ran home 18.11 seconds clear.

“Conditions were a bit dusty to begin with and there wasn’t much grip out there to begin with but I had a good go from the start and was able to make a bit of a break. I saw +4, +8 and then +11 but I was strong in some parts and weak in others so had to keep pushing. I had a real good go on the fifth lap and got stuck in, especially on the bottom part of the circuit, and that allowed me to make the break properly.”

“I was feeling a bit of pressure what with it being Honda’s 50th anniversary of road racing so I was glad to repay them back and with a Honda 1-2-3, it’s been a perfect day. I’m proud to have won my 15th TT and to have increased my outright lap record so thanks to everyone for their support, I hope all the fans out there enjoyed it today.”

The races come in quick succession now with John out in both the Supersport (4 laps) and Superstock (4 laps) on Tuesday, the former getting underway at 12.15pm.