Honda men McGuinness and Lougher take top two places in TT Superbike race John McGuinness scorched to his ninth victory on the Isle of Man as he shattered both lap and race records to take a comfortable victory in this year’s opener to the annual festival, the TT Superbike race, decided over six gruelling laps of the 37.73 mile Mountain Course. The HM Plant Honda rider had a problem free ride as he pulled progressively clear, leaving Ian Lougher trailing by some 39 seconds, on what proved to be a super day for the Japanese marque as they packed four riders into the top five finishing positions. McGuinness had warmed up the for race by bettering his own lap record during practice, and the Lancastrian was destined for even higher speeds as he continued his tried and tested strategy of riding the early parts of this high speed dash over the public roads course, on a return trip to Douglas, over Snaefell Mountain as hard as possible. Riding the Honda CBR1000RR specially developed for dealing with the rigours of taking this torturous course at high speed, McGuinness had opened up an early lead over the Kawasaki of Ian Hutchinson, but by Ramsey on the opening lap, Lougher had moved into second aboard his Honda CBR1000RR, running in Stobart Motorsport colours. McGuinness charged over the mountain, trebling his advantage to 12 seconds as he completed the opening lap at a record pace of 127.835mph, but he was in mood to relent, driving on and mile by mile increasing his advantage ahead of Lougher as, despite having to slow for the pit-stop at the end of the second lap, he was bettering his own record. The second lap was completed in 17m 41.71secs, an average speed of 127.93mph, which gave him a 22 seconds lead, which was to extend to half a minute after a further two laps as he again pitted to change the rear tyre and take on fuel. It was a formality, with McGuinness stretching his advantage in the remaining third of the race, taking his ninth victory on the Island in style: “Fantastic. The bike never missed a beat. A lot of thought and work went into it over the past months. I thoroughly enjoyed riding it, concentrating hard all of the way. We have done the job! “I felt really strong over the Mountain section, and knew the first two laps were fast, though I was a bit surprised at just how good they were. The whole race problem free, the only minor troubles I had were going through Ramsey on the final lap with a few back markers. It was a case of backing off a bit and being patient, not taking any risks.” Lougher, taking the 25th podium finish of his career in the TT, commented: “I don’t know whether to be happy or sad. I wanted the win in this big-bike race, but I am second again, which is a great effort. The bike is so fast there were no problems. This is a good start to the week.” Hutchinson, third for Kawasaki, finished around a full minute ahead of Martin Finnegan aboard the Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR, with Cameron Donald, also riding a Honda CBR1000RR fifth from the Yamaha of Jason Griffiths. Results Saturday Superbike TT : Pl / Name / Machine / Time / MPH 1 / John McGuinness / 1000cc Honda Firebla HM Plant Honda Racing / 1h 48’52.06″ / 124.76 2 / Ian Lougher / 1000cc Honda Firebla Stobart Honda / 1h 49′ 31.20″ / 124.02 3 / Ian Hutchinson / 1000cc Kawasaki ZX1 McAdoo Kawasaki Racing / 1h 49’54.61″ / 123.58 4 / Martin Finnegan / 1000cc Honda Firebla Klaffi Honda / Alpha Boilers /1h 50′ 59.02″ / 122.39 5 / Cameron Donald / 1000cc Honda Firebla Robinson Concrete / 1h 51′ 26.54″/ 121.88 6 / Jason Griffiths / 1000cc Yamaha R1 Yamaha UK / 1h 51′ 59.67″ / 121.28 7 / CARL RENNIE / 1000cc Kawasaki ZX1 Hawk Kawasaki / 1h 52′ 03.19″ / 121.22 8 / Paul Hunt / 1000cc Yamaha R1 Team Racing Yamaha / 1h 52′ 19.41″ / 120.93 9 / Davy Morgan / 1000cc Honda Firebla DMRR Honda Racing / 1h 52′ 45.90″ /120.45 10 / Raymond Porter / 1000cc Yamaha R1 JD’s Motorcycles / 1h 52′ 47.28″ /120.43 11 / MARK PARRETT / 1000cc Yamaha R1 Ripley Land / 1h 53′ 10.90″ / 120.01 12 / Ian Armstrong / 1000cc Yamaha R1 Canteen Smithy / 1h 53′ 17.15″ / 119.90 13 / John Barton / 1000cc Honda Firebla Marks Bloom Racing / 1h 53′ 31.82″/ 119.64 14 / GARY CARSWELL / 1000cc Suzuki Wilson & Collins / 1h 53′ 32.73″ / 119.62 15 / CHRIS PALMER / 1000cc Yamaha R1 FCL Racing / 1h 54′ 01.36″ / 119.12