Courtsey of Phil Wain - Freelance PR
John McGuinness put in another fine ride in today's 4-lap second Supersport race when he finished in fifth place on the Padgetts Honda. The Morecambe ace was embroiled in an incredibly close dice for 5th to 8th place with positions changing all the time but a final lap of 125.732mph saw him secure 5th and edge out Conor Cummins by just 0.23s!
Picture by Mark 'Wally' Walters
Blustery winds on the Mountain were the only concern for the riders as the Island was basking in clear blue skies and warm sunshine once more and with an opening lap of 124.771mph, John slotted in to a fighting sixth place, only 1.3s adrift of fourth place. There was nothing to choose between the riders on time and such was the closeness of the racing, John was pushed back to eighth on the second lap although just six seconds separated the riders in 5th to 8th places.
Another superb pit stop by the Padgetts team saw him make up time on his rivals and as he headed in to his final lap he was back up to sixth and five seconds behind Cummins. However, on the final lap, John really flew and with a speed of 125.732mph, he managed to overtake his Manx rival and get the better of him by less than one quarter of a second!
Talking later, John said: "I was the best of the rest today I guess! It was a fantastic race with a fantastic pace being set and whilst it might not have quite been the result I would have liked, I really enjoyed the race and had a lot of fun out there. I can't wave a magic wand but I'm carrying about 14 stone and it's like carrying my son around on my back compared to some of these lightweight jockeys! The track was quite dusty when we did our practice lap earlier in the day but the sidecars had cleaned it up a fair bit and I was just that little bit lazy on the first lap which was enough for the podium runners to get clear."
"Hutchy overtook me fair and square going in to Greeba Castle and I tried to hang on to him but he's on fire this week, practically untouchable, and he disappeared. Fair play to him, he's on a real crest of a wave and it's a real credit to the Padgetts team - as a team we've had a fantastic week. The bike worked superbly well today and we haven't had one single problem - between Hutchy and myself, we've completed every single practice lap and every single race lap on the Padgetts bikes and I'm really pleased for Clive and the whole Padgetts team. They put so much in to their racing and they're fully deserving of their success this week."
John now has one more race at the 2010 TT Races and will be back out on the HM Plant Honda in tomorrow's 6-lap Senior race, the Blue Riband event of the TT festival.