Classic TT: John McGuinness marks 30th year with Historic Senior victory

John McGuinness MBE marked his 30th year of competing on the Mountain Course with a comfortable victory in the Historic Senior Classic TT.

Monday lunchtime’s win on the Team Winfield Paton was his first since he’d won at the Classic TT on a similar bike in 2019.

The Morecambe Missile finished 26.872 seconds ahead of Shaun Anderson on a similar Paton, with Mike Browne a further 27.363s down in third on the Peter Lodge Racing Norton ES2.

McGuinness was fulsome in his praise for the Paton in the winner’s enclosure. He said: ‘The bike was flying - the team has worked so hard on this bike. It’s a lovely, lovely bike to ride.

‘Beautiful conditions out there and that was a lovely three laps.’

Reflecting on this three decades of racing around the Isle of Man, he added: ‘I wish I was 24 again. My mum and dad put me on a bike when I was three - I wouldn’t be here without them doing that.’

Anderson, a former winner of this race, was delighted with his runner-up finish. He said: ‘I’m over the moon. We lost an engine in practice week, so I’d only had one lap on this one ahead of today. It meant I eased my way into it.

‘To stand on a podium with Mike Browne in the form he’s in and John in his 30th year, is a dream come true.’

Browne added: ‘It took me a bit to get going, had a few problems coming over the Mountain, but I knew I had a good solid third so I just eased it home.’

The race was the usual war of attrition for the classic machinery, with numerous retirements.

Jamie Coward, Joe Yeardsley, Paul Jordan, Conor Cummins, Dean Harrison and Michael Dunlop were among those forced to pull in with mechanical problems.

Davo Johnson came off at Glen Helen and was reported to have leg injuries.

Behind Browne, Baz Furber finished fourth more than three minutes down on the top three.

Will Loder was fifth, Harley Ruston sixth and TT sidecar ace Ben Birchall seventh of the 11 finishers.