HM Plant Honda's outstanding road race pairing of John McGuinness and Steve Plater led the honours for Honda today with a stunning 1-2 finish in the TT Superbike race.
The duo were the only two riders to break through the 130mph average lap speed - with John McGuinness setting yet another lap record of 130.442mph (17mins 21.29 secs) on his second of the six lap race, as well as breaking the race distance record with a time of 1:46.07.16.
The Morecambe man also furthered his and Honda's legendary TT status, by claiming his 15th TT win - now placing him second in the line-up of all time TT victories behind the great Joey Dunlop - whilst further adding to Honda's impressive previous tally of 142 TT accolades.
Following the decision to postpone racing on Saturday due to poor weather conditions covering the 37.73 mile mountain course, both John and Steve were itching to take to the seats of their CBR1000RR Fireblades in today's welcomed clear and warm racing conditions.
John McGuinness (#2)
"Leading the race from the first lap to the finish is a great feeling. I felt strong on the first lap out and knew I had to give it a real good go then, to set me up for the rest of the race. I could see my boards around the circuit with +4, +8 and then +11 and although I didn't want to ease off too much, I knew I was ok for the last lap so took it a bit easier. There are a lot of important guests here for Honda's 50th anniversary of racing who were all watching from Milntown and it would have been great to wave to them, but I thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea to take my hands of the handlebars at 170mph! To achieve a win for Honda and our sponsors today is a great feeling and I'm really pleased to have been able to give something back as a thank you to them and my great team and also add to Honda's TT successes in their anniversary year."
Steve Plater (#7)
"My aim for today was to get on the podium so I'm certainly happy with second and to achieve a 1-2 with John for the HM Plant Honda team is fantastic. I started seventh and just knuckled down and got on with it, overtaking where I needed to in order to get up the front. The small groups of riders made it hard to overtake safely on some parts of the course but I knew I had to keep at it as I didn't want to risk someone closing the gap on me from behind by too much. I've been asked so many times how it feels to join the 130mph club and, whilst it's a satisfying achievement, it was never my aim and I'm sure things will get even faster as the week progresses if these good conditions stay with us."
Havier Beltran, Race Team Manager
"We could not have asked for any more from John, Steve, the team and the machines today. Both riders just got their heads down and rode faultlessly to take their very well deserved places on the podium. Now we just hope for more of the same during the rest of the week's racing!"
It wasn't just success for the HM Plant Honda team today, but also for Honda, with the class leading CBR1000RR Fireblade occupying the first five finishes in the Superbike TT race in the hands of Guy Martin, Ian Hutchinson and Gary Johnson respectively, behind the HM Plant Honda riders.
John and Steve will take their places on the mountain course again tomorrow for two races - firstly in Supersport on the CBR600RR at 12.15, followed at 18.30 in the Superstock class on their Padgetts Honda liveried Fireblade machines.
