John McGuinness takes his 12th win and celebrates Honda's 131 ST TT win

John McGuinness on his way to a 12th TT win. © Double Red. John McGuinness scorched to his 12th TT victory when he took today's delayed 6-lap Superbike race, coming home ahead of young rivals Guy Martin and Ian Hutchinson. Postponed from Saturday, and further delayed by two hours due to damp and misty conditions, the race eventually got underway at 12.45pm and the HM Plant Honda rider put in his usual quick first lap to head the field.

With an opening lap speed of 127.804mph, despite a few damp patches, McGuinness led Martin by 4.5 seconds with Hutchinson in third ahead of Martin Finnegan and Ian Lougher, but the Hydrex Honda of Martin was making a fight of it and the gap had only extended by half a second at Ramsey Hairpin.

However, a blistering run over the Mountain saw him break the class lap record at 128.279mph and a perfect pit stop saw his lead rocket up to 17 seconds - from here on in his lead was never under threat.

Martin suffered at both pit stops and, having done the hard work of overhauling Hutchinson and Finnegan on the road, on both occasions he had to do it all over again, but he managed to achieve the feat and continued to press hard. McGuinness, whose lead was up to 36 seconds at the end of lap four, rode to his signals for the remaining 75 miles though, and allowed his advantage to drop down to 26 seconds at the chequered flag.

It was win number 12 for the Morecambe man, the third highest total in history, and he led home Martin and Hutchinson with the top six being completed by Finnegan, Lougher and Ryan Farquhar.

Adrian Archibald took seventh ahead of Conor Cummins and Ian Armstrong, whilst the excellent newcomer Steve Plater won the last of the silver replicas. There were also impressive performances from fellow first-timers Keith Amor in 14th and Gary Johnson in 20th.

The honour of the fastest lap speed ever set by a newcomer fell to Amor whose last lap was a superb 123.750mph.

Dave Molyneux and Rick Long took the opening F2 Sidecar race. © Double Red. McGuinness' total of 12 wins was matched just a few hours later when Dave Molyneux came from behind to take the opening F2 Sidecar race, making it a doubly successful day for the HM Plant Honda team.

Partnered for the first time by Rick Long, who equalled the late Wolfgang Kalauch's passenger record of 7 TT wins, the duo overcame all their problems in practice to overhaul long time race leaders John Holden and Andrew Winkle on the final lap, winning at an average speed of 111.668mph.

The Manx pairing of Nick Crowe and Dan Sayle led in the early stages, but after catching and passing Molyneux on the road, they were soon reported as touring at Quarry Bends and retired just a mile up the road at Sulby Crossroads. Another pre-race favourite Klaus Klaffenbock and Christian Parzer only got as far as Ballacraine.

Holden and Winkle then seized the lead and they led the field by just under 9 seconds at the end of the opening lap, with Molyneux overtaking Steve Norbury and Scott Parnell for second.

However, Moly had now got the bit between his teeth and as he got more and more dialled in with both the circuit and his machine, he began to eat into Holden's lead and going into the final lap it was less than two seconds. Norbury was holding on to a safe third ahead of Allan Schofield/Peter Founds and Simon Neary/Stuart Bond, while Conrad Harrison/Kerry Williams and Nigel Connole/Jamie Winn were flying through the field from their start numbers of 24 and 25 respectively.

At the head of the field, though, Molyneux and Long were in the ascendancy and with the fastest lap of the race, 112.736mph, they were able to not only reel in Holden and Winkle, but also to pull away and they completed the three laps exactly six and a half seconds clear.

Norbury and Parnell held on for third, the Yorkshire driver's seventh successive podium and 10th in total, with Neary getting the better of Schofield for fifth. Connole came home in sixth ahead of Harrison with the top 10 completed by Tony Elmer/Darren Marshall, Glyn Jones/Chris Lake and Andy Laidlow/Patrick Farrance.

Bennetts Superbike TT podium celebrations. © Double Red. "I am very pleased as I really wanted to win a Centenary TT," commented McGuinness. "The standard of competition is very high and I've been working very hard to get in shape over the winter as the TT really is the highlight of my year. I felt very strong and wanted to keep all the younger riders at bay so I pushed as hard as I could, but there were a lot of damp patches on the first lap so I had to take some precaution. The pit-stops were amazing, the team worked superbly and it helped me even further. Obviously there is a lot of pressure as we build up to the races but I feel so relieved and it's great to do it in front of such a big crowd. The machinery worked well so a big thanks to both the team and to Honda. It wasn't all plain sailing, I had a few big moments but once I saw I had a 30 second lead I was able to steady up on the last two laps and just wanted to bring the bike home safely. Hopefully we can repeat this in the other races."

Team-mate Ian Hutchinson, third in the Superbike TT added: "The first two laps cost me the race because I'm not as confident in the damp patches around the circuit. I am pleased with the result but by the pit-stop there was not much I could do but maintain the third place I was in. The pit-stop went really well, a big thanks to the team and to Honda as everything worked really well. Luckily I had a big lead over fourth place and was able to maintain that to the end. It's great to be on the podium and I hope to get more good results for HM Plant Honda during the rest of the week. "

Team Manager Neil Tuxworth explained: "We are absolutely delighted to have six Hondas in the top six positions as this is an incredible achievement. The result for HM Plant Honda is brilliant as John controlled the race from start to finish and was never challenged. It was Ian's first TT with the team and to finish on the podium was also excellent. All four pit-stops were very smooth and the team have worked incredibly hard over the last few weeks so we are very pleased with the results today."

(Newspress Ltd)