By Phil Wain
June 10 2005

John McGuinness put in another blistering run today, winning the 6-lap Senior TT, his eighth TT victory in total. The AIM Racing Yamaha rider put in a faultless performance and led from start to finish with only a charge on the first two laps by Adrian Archibald threatening to disrupt his dominance. Suzuki’s Archibald had reduced John’s lead to just six seconds at Ramsey on lap two, but he went out with a flat tyre just moments later, and no one else was to get close to the Morecambe star. He eventually ran out a clear winner from Honda’s Ian Lougher, and the Suzuki of Lincolnshire youngster Guy Martin.

The race began at 10:45am in slightly overcast conditions, but it wasn’t long before the sun began to break through and it was certainly shining on McGuinness. By Glen Helen on the opening lap he was already two seconds up on Lougher, and the gap had grown to an astounding ten seconds by the end of the lap, although Archibald was now in second, a lap of 127.326mph giving John the edge.

On the second lap, Archibald began to eat into John’s advantage and he had reduced it by one second at Glen Helen and, at Ramsey, it was down to just six seconds. However, just as the thousands of race fans braced themselves for a thrilling race, Archibald was announced as touring through Guthrie’s and his race was over. John continued to charge over the Mountain and, with another lap in excess of 127mph, his lead stood at 25 seconds as he came into refuel for the first time.

With the pit crew doing a sterling job he was soon on his way, with the Honda duo of Richard Britton and Ian Lougher fighting it out for the remaining podium positions. All three lapped at a similar pace on the third lap, but John’s fourth lap of 126.787mph was over ten seconds faster and he was now the third rider on the road, only Lougher and Martin Finnegan ahead of him. As he refuelled for the second and final time in the 226-mile race, his lead had increased to a commanding 34 seconds and, barring mechanical failure, the race was seemingly his.

Britton had problems in the pit and dropped to fifth, allowing Lougher to move up to second and Guy Martin into third. As the riders began their final lap John was right on the tail of Lougher on the road, the duo having overhauled Finnegan, although the latter was a on a charge as he tried to grab the final podium spot. John and Ian completed their final lap in close formation, and John eased off in the final miles to bring the R1 home and take a Superbike double. His final winning margin over Lougher was 34 seconds, with Martin taking third by just 1.3 seconds from Finnegan.

It was a jubilant McGuinness in winner’s circle, and the 32-year old said: “It’s absolutely mega! It had been a bit of a mixed week for me, as it has for some of the other riders, and I was feeling quite nervous before the start as I knew everyone would be ‘on it’. I got stuck in from the very beginning and managed to open up a gap, but then I could see from my signals that Adrian was chipping away at my lead. It’s a shame that he retired as it would have been close, but I felt confident that I had a bit in reserve over the mountain and could have gone quicker if need be.”

“The bike was spluttering a little bit at the end of the fourth lap, but the lads in the pit did a great job both times and got us cleanly away. There was a lot of pressure on them but they were brilliant, especially young Adam who never faltered at all. It’s a credit to everyone involved that we’ve got the two wins and it’s just a terrific package. The bike wasn’t tuned to destruction and it worked brilliantly. It was a bit of a handful over the bumps, as you’d expect, but the work we did with Dunlop at Castle Combe in April paid off. The only moment I had was when I did a burnout coming up the return road as I nearly ran into the fence! I really wanted to win the Joey Dunlop Trophy as I’d seen people like DJ win it, so I’m chuffed as anything to finally get my hands on it – it’s going to look good in my trophy cabinet.”