Monday June 8, 2009 at 1:58pm
John McGuinness aboard his HM Plant Honda has taken his 15th TT win putting him ahead of Mike Hailwood who had 14 TT wins to his name. He also broke his own outright lap record with an average speed of 130.442mph on lap two.
McGuinness started second on the road behind Gary Johnson who opted to run the number one plate. He raced his usual race by pushing hard from the start to try and pull a gap on the competition and it worked.
Initially it was young Manx man Connor Cummins who was chasing second place but a slow pit stop on lap two hampered his race pushing him down the order and allowing Steve Plater, team-mate to McGuinness, to slot into second place.
Third place went to another Honda rider and that was the fast-talking Guy Martin on the Hydrex Honda. He is still chasing his first TT win and was a little disappointed with his result which he has blamed on himself as he said his Honda never missed a beat.
McGuinness said: “The conditions today were a bit different to during practice as it was a bit duster and not so grippy. I pushed hard from the start and I wanted to make a break. I watched my board and I saw the gap increasing from +4, +8 up to +11. I knew I had to maintain that gap and I knew where I was strong and weak. The team told me Steve was coming so I got stuck in again to gap him and then I was able to cruise a little on the last lap.
“The support from the crowd was amazing and the crowd is massive. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. I’m really proud to take my 15th win, I’m over the moon. It is Honda’s 50th Anniversary so to repay them with a win and to have Steve and guy on the podium also on Hondas is testament to how strong the bikes are.”
Plater said: “I didn’t feel I was pushing that hard as I was conscious that I was second I just didn’t know who was in third and I wanted an HM Plant one-two. It was a bit windy and there wasn’t so much grip, if the weather stays good for the rest of the week the track will improve. I’m not worried about lap times I just want to keep standing on the podium.”
Martin said: “The was hard work. The bike is in the ball park and it was ok in the race. Its stable but I can’t get it to turn. This is the first TT this bike has finished so thanks to everyone for that. I had a good pit stop and pushed hard on the first couple of laps. Ian Hutchinson just got fourth and we were scratching a bit on the last lap, we had a bit of a moment with a back marker but it was good fun.”
For more information please visit www.iomtt.com.