John Mc Guinness gained a slick first TT victory in the 250 cc Lightweight race in the Isle of Man yesterday, and also broke the lap and race records on a Honda TSR.
The 25-year-old from Lancashire was never challenged, and kept increasing his lead all through the race. He finished a very impressive 34 seconds ahead of Manxman Jason Griffiths on a Yamaha. "This is like a dream come true," said McGuinness after the 150-mile four-lap event. "The bike never missed a beat. I just kept my head down and really enjoyed the race."
Gavin Lee, on a Yamaha, clinched third place in the run from the mountain section to the finish line.
Fourth spot went to Denis McCullough from Co Down, who battled hard from sixth on a Honda that he had little time to set up to racing form. "I had a massive sideways slide at the Black Dub section and had to take it a bit easy after that," said McCullough.
Joey Dunlop, who had won the lightweight title for the previous five years, finished in a disappointing fifth place. His bike was running fine but he had witnessed fellow Ulsterman James Courtney having a serious accident at the Greeba Castle section on lap one.
"James went down just in front of me, I think he clipped the kerb," said Dunlop. "It was really scary and I didn't feel in the mood after that."
Courtney was air-lifted to hospital and is being treated for bone fractures.
In the 400 cc race, which was run concurrently with the 250 event, New Zealander Paul Williams had his second successive TT victory racing a Honda. The 29-year-old fought back from second place and gained the lead after first-place man Nigel Piercy had a poor pit stop at the end of lap two.
There was drama in the sidecar race when seven-times winner Dave Molyneux and Craig Hallam had to retire due to a blown engine on the last lap while leading by a massive one minute and 17 seconds.
The race was won by Rob Fisher and Rick Long in a Honda outfit.
250cc lightweight TT (four laps, 150.92 miles): 1, J McGuinness (Honda) 1 hr 17 mins 31.7 secs (average speed 116.79mph); 2, J Griffiths (Yamaha) 1:18:05.1; 3, G Lee (Yamaha) 1:18:27.6; 4, D McCullough (Honda) 1:19:01.1; 5, J Dunlop (Honda) 1:19:05.8; 6, G Dynes (Honda) 1:19:19.6.
Super Sport 400 TT (four laps): 1, P Williams (Honda) 1:23:04.0 (109.01mph); 2, N Piercy (Honda) 1:24:15.8; joint 3, N Jefferies (Yamaha) 1:25:34.7 and G McMullan (Yamaha) 1:25:34.7; 5, B Gardiner (Kawasaki) 1:25:52.3; 6, D Morris (Chrysalis) 1:26:40.4.
Sidecar TT (three laps, 113.19 miles): 1, R Fisher/R Long (Honda) 1 hr 2 mins 26.3 secs (108.76mph); 2, I Bell/N Carpenter (Yamaha) 1:03:19.9; 3, G Lambert/L Aubrey (Yamaha) 1:03:31.9; 4, S Norbury/A Smith (Yamaha) 1:04:01.7; 5, K Howles/D Jewell (Mistrel) 1:04:11.7; 6, M Boddice/D Wells (Honda) 1:04:52.9.
Colin McRae led the Acropolis Rally after Subaru driver Richard Burns ended yesterday's final stage with a 16.4-second lead but elected to take a 30-second time penalty and start today's stage in fourth place. Burns clocked in at the final time control three minutes late to collect the 30-second penalty, believing that by starting behind his three main rivals he would have the benefit of running on a road swept clean by their cars. He is now 13.6 seconds behind McRae.
McRae began the second day of the four-day rally in strong form but lost time when a right front tyre punctured. After that he enjoyed a trouble-free run.
"We've been driving flat out but there's been a lot of loose gravel on the surface of the roads," the Scottish driver said. McRae acknowledged, however, that Burns could derive significant advantage from his tactical move.
"There's a real benefit in running further back," McRae said. "Running third we were seeing a clean line emerging but we were still getting more wheel spin than we would have liked."
