2019 Classic Senior TT
John McGuinness delivered a Mountain Course masterclass – winning a restarted three lap Bennetts Senior Classic TT Race after the original race was red flagged following an incident at Ballaugh.
The win was the third in the class for McGuinness following his victories in 2016 and 2018 and the fourth in a row for Roger Winfield’s outfit. It meant that McGuinness has now won 26 races around the Mountain Course.
The frustrations of the weather affected qualifying week were swept away with perfect racing conditions on the Isle of Man for the opening race day of the 2019 Classic TT Races presented by Bennetts.
Italian marques have dominated the Class, winning every year since the Classic TT’s inception in 2013, with only Dean Harrison – on an MV Agusta – interrupting Paton’s winning streak and that trend looked set to continue with John McGuinness and Italian Stefano Bonetti, both riding Patons, the two fastest qualifiers.
Any fuel capacity advantage that the lower speed single-cylinder bikes held was negated with the reduction of the race to three laps which meant that the thirstier Patons could complete full race distance without refuelling.
McGuinness, who won the race in 2016 and on his comeback to the Mountain Course last year, lead the race from the opening sector. He held a lead of six seconds over second placed man Stefano Bonetti at Glen Helen on the opening lap with Maria Costello, also on a Paton for Team Beugger Racing, a further five seconds back in third place. Jamie Coward (Ted Woof/ Craven Manx Norton) and Alan Oversby (Ireland Honda) completed the top five.
McGuinness’s opening lap (111.679mph) gave him a lead of 17 seconds from Bonetti with Costello (107.98) third a further 25 seconds behind the Italian. However there was a battle emerging for the final podium place with Jamie Coward (107.89) less than a second behind Costello. Oversby completed the top five with his opening lap of 106.73mph.
McGuinness maintained his lead over Bonetti on the second lap but behind the leading pair, Coward moved into the final podium place by Ramsey. McGuinness’s second lap (111.59mph) put him 24 seconds ahead of Bonetti (110.95) with Coward (109.15) retaining the final podium place, five seconds ahead of Maria Costello (108.30) with Oversby (107.46) completing the top five.
Michael Rutter, who was running sixth, was reported as a retirement at Glen Tramman with a seized engine and new sixth placed man Derek Sheils, riding a Greenall Racing Honda, came into the pits for a quick ‘splash and dash’ refuelling stop at the end of the second lap.
McGuinness took the chequered flag with a final lap of 110.45 to win from Bonetti (110.13), who secured his first Mountain Course podium with Coward (108.55) clinching the final podium place. Costello duly finished fourth (108.17) with Oversby (107.92) fifth and Sheils (104.28) holding sixth place after his earlier pit stop.
Senior Classic TT Race 1
| Pos | Rider | Best Lap | Total Time |
| 1 |
John McGuinness |
111.68 mph 20m16.240 |
01h01m03.252 |
| 2 |
Stefano Bonetti |
110.95 mph 20m24.203 |
01h01m31.045 |
| 3 |
Jamie Coward |
109.15 mph 20m44.470 |
01h02m34.672 |
| 4 |
Maria Costello |
108.30 mph 20m4.162 |
01h02m47.760 |
| 5 |
Alan Oversby |
107.92 mph 20m58.565 |
01h03m15.199 |
| 6 |
Derek Sheils |
106.75 mph 21m12.369 |
01h04m10.266 |
| 7 |
Chris McGahan |
104.96 mph 21m34.082 |
01h05m20.573 |
| 8 |
Hefyn Owen |
102.52 mph 22m04.842 |
01h06m28.891 |
| 9 |
Dave Matravers |
100.54 mph 22m30.945 |
01h08m11.523 |
| 10 |
100.98 mph 22m25.110 |
01h08m12.988 | |
| 11 |
Will Loder |
99.95 mph 22m38.941 |
01h08m38.365 |
| 12 |
Keith Clarke |
98.28 mph 23m02.074 |
01h09m21.629 |
| 13 |
David Madsen-Mygdal |
98.25 mph 23m02.486 |
01h09m45.642 |
| 14 |
Colin Stockdale |
95.14 mph 23m47.672 |
01h11m52.551 |
| 15 |
Alec Whitwell |
95.08 mph 23m48.495 |
01h12m51.748 |
| 16 |
Arthur Browning |
92.87 mph 24m22.542 |
01h13m32.456 |
| 17 |
Grant Sellars |
90.92 mph 24m53.935 |
01h15m07.302 |
| 18 |
Ian Bainbridge |
89.40 mph 25m19.383 |
01h16m18.247 |
| 19 |
Gary Freeman |
87.48 mph 25m52.595 |
01h18m01.023 |
| DNF |
Michael Sweeney |
100.45 mph 22m32.242 |
22m32.242 |
| DNF |
Michael Rutter |
106.55 mph 21m14.809 |
21m14.809 |
| DNF |
Lee Johnston |
104.81 mph 21m36.006 |
21m36.006 |
| DNF |
James Hillier |
105.33 mph 21m29.562 |
43m01.957 |
| DNF |
John Barton |
96.57 mph 23m26.577 |
47m11.170 |
| DNF |
Richard Stott |
87.29 mph 25m56.036 |
25m56.036 |
Superbike Classic TT Final Qualifying (24th)
| Pos | Rider | Best Lap | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Michael Dunlop |
125.75 mph 18m00.136 |
00m00.000 |
| 2 |
David Johnson |
125.04 mph 18m06.265 |
00m06.129 |
| 3 |
Horst Saiger |
122.39 mph 18m29.825 |
00m29.689 |
| 4 |
Philip Crowe |
122.06 mph 18m32.820 |
00m22.995 |
| 5 |
Rob Hodson |
120.90 mph 18m43.436 |
00m33.611 |
| 6 |
Jamie Coward |
120.82 mph 18m44.234 |
00m44.098 |
| 7 |
Gary Johnson |
120.70 mph 18m45.353 |
00m45.217 |
| 8 |
Michael Sweeney |
120.20 mph 18m50.031 |
00m49.895 |
| 9 |
Joey Thompson |
118.94 mph 19m02.021 |
01m01.885 |
| 10 |
Craig Neve |
118.46 mph 19m06.663 |
01m06.527 |
| 11 |
Michael Rutter |
118.12 mph 19m09.891 |
01m09.755 |
| 12 |
Forest Dunn |
117.50 mph 19m15.935 |
01m15.799 |
| 13 |
Josh Daley |
116.98 mph 19m21.165 |
01m21.029 |
| 14 |
Michal Dokoupil |
116.93 mph 19m21.646 |
01m21.510 |
| 15 |
Richard Wilson |
116.67 mph 19m24.256 |
01m24.120 |
| 16 |
115.27 mph 19m38.305 |
01m38.169 | |
| 17 |
Adrian Harrison |
115.26 mph 19m38.475 |
01m38.339 |
| 18 |
Brian McCormack |
115.16 mph 19m39.434 |
01m39.298 |
| 19 |
Darren Cooper |
115.15 mph 19m39.537 |
01m39.401 |
| 20 |
Paul Potchy Williams |
114.81 mph 19m43.023 |
01m42.887 |
| 21 |
Mike Booth |
114.12 mph 19m50.192 |
01m50.056 |
| 22 |
Danny Webb |
113.50 mph 19m56.762 |
01m56.626 |
| 23 |
David Hewson |
113.33 mph 19m58.535 |
01m58.399 |
| 24 |
Charles Rhys Hardisty |
112.69 mph 20m05.341 |
02m05.205 |
| 25 |
Mark Parrett |
112.15 mph 20m11.151 |
02m11.015 |
| 26 |
Dave Moffitt |
112.02 mph 20m12.559 |
02m12.423 |
| 27 |
Robert Barber |
112.01 mph 20m12.656 |
02m12.520 |
| 28 |
Lancelot Unissart |
108.52 mph 20m51.618 |
02m51.482 |
| 29 |
Richard Vuillermet |
104.79 mph 21m36.246 |
03m36.110 |
| 30 |
Steve Moody |
103.82 mph 21m48.287 |
03m48.151 |
Junior Classic TT Final Qualifying (24th)
| Pos | Rider | Best Lap | Gap |
| 1 |
Richard Wilson |
100.75 mph 22m28.158 |
00m00.000 |
| 2 |
Derek Sheils |
99.81 mph 22m40.893 |
00m12.735 |
| 3 |
Alex Sinclair |
98.03 mph 23m05.545 |
00m37.387 |
| 4 |
Paul Jordan |
97.74 mph 23m09.672 |
00m41.514 |
| 5 |
Ewan Hamilton |
95.19 mph 23m46.919 |
01m18.761 |
| 6 |
Tom Weeden |
94.38 mph 23m59.215 |
01m31.057 |
| 7 |
Dave Moffitt |
93.81 mph 24m07.944 |
01m39.786 |
| 8 |
91.97 mph 24m36.907 |
02m08.749 | |
| 9 |
Dave Matravers |
91.34 mph 24m47.000 |
02m18.842 |
| 10 |
Jeff Smith |
90.24 mph 25m05.184 |
02m37.026 |
| 11 |
Ken Parkes* |
90.18 mph 25m06.171 |
02m38.013 |
| 12 |
Simon Collins* |
89.64 mph 25m15.308 |
02m47.150 |
| 13 |
88.72 mph 25m30.977 |
02m34.881 | |
| 14 |
Jason Lamb |
88.46 mph 25m35.485 |
03m07.327 |
| 15 |
Gary Hutton |
86.70 mph 26m06.671 |
03m38.513 |
| 16 |
Jason Burrill* |
86.64 mph 26m07.716 |
03m39.558 |
| 17 |
Terence Sansom |
86.50 mph 26m10.226 |
03m42.068 |
| 18 |
Edward Poole |
81.17 mph 27m53.417 |
05m25.259 |
Source: MCNews.com.au