Magnificent McGuinness Wins Senior TT
- Jun 12, 2015
- 2 min read
The 2015 Senior TT was set up to be a straight fight between the resurgent Ian Hutchinson and the super-speedy Kiwi Bruce Anstey. But no one predicted who the eventual victor was to be.
John McGuinness has had a troublesome week thus far, but was given some enjoyment after his success in the Zero TT race on Wednesday. Switching to a new-spec rear Dunlop tyre for the Senior, McGuinness seemed a new man. The Morecambe Missile took the lead on the opening lap at the Bungalow and began to eke an advantage. At first it was merely 1.2-seconds over Ian Hutchinson at the end of the first lap, but McGuinness plugged away and by the end of the second lap he'd clawed 10-seconds ahead of Hutchy who had run wide at Signpost corner on lap two.
As McGuinness pulled into the pits he'd just set a new outright lap record of 132.701mph. Now with the bit firmly between his teeth John was not going to give this one up without a fight. The Honda rider blew the field away over the next two laps, pulling out a 17-second advantage to take his 23rd TT victory and his 7th Senior TT. Now just three away from Joey Dunlop's record of 26, the King of the Mountain will definitely be back next year; there's fight in the old dog yet.
Ian Hutchinson's Senior TT wasn't the fairy tail ending to an astonishing week for the Bingley rider after a cracked exhaust hampered his progress and he had to console 3rd. Despite this Hutchy goes home with the Joey Dunlop trophy after topping the standings outright.
James Hillier etched his name into the list of potential winners for TT 2016 after a fine 2nd place in the Senior, his second podium of the week. The Quattro Plant Kawasaki rider led initially but it was short lived, the juggernaut that was John McGuinness proving impossible to match.
Guy Martin will leave the Isle of Man win-less once again following a tough week for the popular Lincolnshire rider. He had a strong ride in the Senior to recover from a bad start which saw him 11th halfway round the first lap. Following Hutchy for much of the first two laps, Guy was able to fight his way back up to 4th. Will we see him back next year? I think so.
Michael Dunlop will be glad to get his week over and done with as it has been rather busy. The switch to BMW proved... well, to be fair, it was unproven. A lap of 132.5mph on the final lap showed that the speed was there, but his injury held him back. Dunlop finished the Senior a very respectable 5th considering.
Peter Hickman impressed in 7th and did a 131mph lap on his final tour, with Bruce Anstey a disappointing 8th, David Johnson 9th and Michael Rutter 10th.
The Senior TT was red flagged on the second lap after Cookstown BE Racing's Jamie Hamilton crashed heavily. Hamilton was taken to Nobles Hospital where it is said his condition is serious but not life threatening. Everyone at thebeckettsblog.com wish Jamie a speedy recovery.
Full results can be found here:
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