For all of his success at the Isle of Man TT, John McGuinness had never won a Superstock race but the road racing legend finally took his first victory in the class on Monday evening, taking his overall TT tally to nineteen.
2012 Isle of Man TT | ||
---|---|---|
Royal London 360 Superstock Race | ||
1 | John McGuinness | 1:11:29.65 |
2 | Michael Dunlop | +7.80 |
3 | Ryan Farquhar | +12.76 |
4 | Bruce Anstey | +36.33 |
5 | Guy Martin | +37.20 |
6 | James Hillier | +41.44 |
TT Championship Standings | ||
1 | John McGuinness | 63 Pts |
2 | Bruce Anstey | 54 Pts |
3 | Cameron Donald | 46 Pts |
The Padgett's Honda rider led from the start but Ryan Farquhar was hot on his heels around the opening lap, trailing but just a tenth of a second. The rest of the field were already six seconds in arrears with Guy Martin leading the day's Supersport winner Bruce Anstey in the fight for third.
Anstey took control of that particular fight on the second lap but both were coming under pressure from Michael Dunlop who put in a 128.235mph lap to leap from eighth to fourth, fractionally ahead of Martin's Suzuki.
Coming into Glen Helen for the final time, McGuinness' lead was up to 14 seconds with Farquhar's attentions now on keeping Dunlop at bay. The McAdoo Racing rider had dropped Anstey and was closing in on second place at a vast rate of knots.
Dunlop would snatch the position with the fastest lap of the race, 129.253mph, but an oil leak for Farquhar's KMR Kawasaki made his path through to second much easier. He still held on to the final podium position with Bruce Anstey pipping Guy Martin to fourth, beating the Lincolnshire man by just under a second. James Hillier was sixth ahead of Michael Rutter and Gary Johnson while Dan Stewart claimed the top privateer honour, extending his lead in the championship as a result.
McGuinness now leads the overall TT championship but with the second Supersport race next up on Wednesday, his rivals will fancy their chances of catching up.