John McGuiness has moved to within four victories of Joey Dunlop’s outright Isle of Man TT record after winning the SES TT Zero on Wednesday. The Morecambe rider led a Team Mugen 1-2 ahead of Bruce Anstey for the second consecutive year with both breaking the TT Zero lap record in the process.
McGuinness was the first to get up and running but at the Glen Helen time-check, Anstey was a second ahead of his teammate. The pair had already opened up a sizeable advantage over Parker Racing’s Lee Johnston who was seventeen seconds adrift on his victory machine.
At Ballaugh Bridge, McGuinness had turned a one second deficit into a two second advantage over Anstey and although the New Zealander kept him honest over the remainder of the lap, John held on to take victory by four seconds. Johnston had a fight on his hands to keep hold of the final podium spot with stand-in teammate Guy Martin pushing hard but Johnston proved too strong, beating the injured William Dunlop’s replacement by 21 seconds.
Behind the Parker Racing duo, Robert Wilson finished fifth with Michael Sweeney sixth overall, taking the University honours in the process for the University of Nottingham at an average speed of 73.156mph.