By Phil Wain
April 11 2006

John McGuinness put in a strong and sensible race at a treacherous Donington Park this weekend, finishing in sixth place in the second round of the National Superstock Championship.

Riding the HM Plant Honda FireBlade, McGuinness dug deep in the freezing cold, wet conditions - arguably the worst of the day - and whilst countless riders fell victim to the weather, he kept the machine upright to claim ten valuable championship points and move up into joint fifth in the championship table.

© Raceline Photography

The two qualifying sessions were held in dry weather, and the competitiveness of the series could clearly be seen, with no less than 23 riders separated by less than 1.5 seconds. Still down slightly on top speed to the other machines, John managed to qualify the Honda in 13th place, with a time of 1m36.578 seconds, just over a second off the pole position time of Adrian Coates - but felt confident he could go some way higher in the race. Rain would probably have given him his best chance of success, but by the time the Superstock machines came under starters orders at 5pm, not only was the rain falling constantly it was also bitterly cold.

Conditions were horrendous, and John took it very steady in the early stages, utilizing his race craft and experience and allowing himself to get into his rhythm before making his move through the field. Slowly but surely, he began to pass a few riders, and by the fourth lap he was up to ninth, having ended the first lap in 14th, and another lap later he was up into seventh. Mark Burr, John Ingram and Daniel Hegarty crashed in quick succession, promoting John further up the order, but he was under pressure from Tristan Palmer and so slotted into sixth on lap seven.

With the race reduced from 16 laps to 12, due to the inclement weather, John kept the bike upright for the remainder of the race and crossed the line in a somewhat lonely sixth place. Having started from the fourth row, it was a more than creditable result, and has moved him up to joint fifth overall, with a total of 18 points from the first two rounds.

Immediately after the race, it was a very cold and relieved John that commented: “I’ve been road racing for 15 years, and I’ve never known conditions to be as bad as that. My hands were completely numb, and it was absolutely freezing - without question, one of the most difficult races I’ve ever had. I just wanted to get a result, so sixth place and ten points is quite satisfying. It would have been quite easy to have thrown the bike down the road, so I just concentrated on keeping everything as steady as possible and gradually worked my way through. Some of the boys were coming by me like I was standing still, and I knew that they wouldn’t last long, so it was no surprise to see some of them in the gravel traps.

“It was a patient race for me, but we’re getting there and the FireBlade is getting more and more dialled in with each outing. Today was literally a survival exercise, and I lost count of how many moments I had - you could have been off at any corner as there was simply no heat or no grip in the tyres or in the track. On the slow down lap my hands were that cold I couldn’t feel a thing, so I’m relieved to have got to the finish and bag some more points. Like I say, we’re moving forward all the time, and are getting the Honda closer to the front, so I’m sure we’ll be even stronger at Thruxton next weekend.”

The third round of the National Superstock Championship takes place at Thruxton, Hampshire, on Easter Monday, 9th of April.