Courtsey of Phil Wain - Freelance PR
Picture by Glynne Lewis
Morecambe's John McGuinness made his annual visit to Oliver's Mount, Scarborough at the weekend where he was once again competing at the International Gold Cup road races. The 2.43-mile public road circuit attracted a huge crowd of 52,000 on Sunday and John played his part fully over the course of the two days taking four top six finishes from his four races.
Armed with the 250cc and 600cc Padgetts Honda's, John opened his account for the weekend in Saturday's Phil Mellor 250cc Trophy race and he was immediately on the podium with a fine third behind the leading duo of Ian Lougher and William Dunlop. After taking fourth in his heat race, John's final outing on Saturday came in the first leg of the 600cc David Jefferies Trophy where he lined up on the second row. John slotted into sixth place in the early stages and was only a second adrift of third when the red flags came out due to an incident at the Memorial, the result declared at 3 laps.
With sunshine bathing the seaside venue on Sunday, a bumper crowd saw John and his fellow road race stars put on a terrific show and this time he was able to claim 5th in the second 600cc leg, again right in contention for the podium places. He then completed his weekend with a strong 4th in the Lee Pullan 250cc Trophy race.
Speaking later, John commented, "I love coming to Scarborough as much now as I did when I made my debut back in 1996 and it's simply a fantastic meeting. The weather was superb this weekend and the entry was second only to likes of the TT and the North West 200 so it's great to see such a massive crowd turn out to support the event. The 600cc races were as competitive as ever and great to be part of whilst the 250s of Ian and William were the rocketships I expected them to be so I just had a lot of fun out there. It's been a successful weekend for the team and one we've all thoroughly enjoyed and I'm already looking forward to coming back in 2010."
John now turns his attention back to the Metzeler National 1000cc Superstock Championship at Silverstone this weekend where he hopes to repeat the victory he took last time out at Croft.