McGuinness wins Historic Senior: first victory in seven years

• Victory by 26.872 seconds ahead of Shaun Anderson
• Fastest lap of the race at 113.028 mph (about 181.9 km/h) right at the start
• Only eleven of more than thirty starters reached the finish

Monday afternoon on the Isle of Man belonged to a rider who has been racing this course for three decades. John McGuinness took the lead in the three-lap Historic Senior race from the start and never gave it up before the chequered flag. For the 54-year-old from Morecambe it was a fourth win in this class and his first race victory of any kind since the Classic TT in 2019. According to paddock sources the race started at 12:30 local time, with a race distance of around 113 miles (about 182 kilometres).

How comfortable was John McGuinness’s win?

McGuinness won by 26.872 seconds from Shaun Anderson. After the first of three laps he was already more than twenty seconds clear, and from there he extended the gap in controlled fashion.

The lead grew section by section. At Glen Helen it was 3.6 seconds, at Ballaugh already 7.6 seconds, and at Ramsey Hairpin twelve seconds. At the end of the first lap the board showed 113.028 mph (about 181.9 km/h), the fastest lap of the entire race and that from a standing start. Anderson recorded 111.157 mph (about 178.9 km/h) and Mike Browne 110.581 mph (about 178.0 km/h).

The second lap stayed at a high level too: 112.724 mph (about 181.4 km/h). On the final lap McGuinness visibly eased off in the second half of the course, even though he still set the best sector time between the Grandstand and Glen Helen. At 112.283 mph (about 180.7 km/h) it was comfortably enough. According to the organiser it was his fourth win in the Historic Senior class. Media reports also describe it as his 27th success on the Mountain Course overall, a count that includes his Classic TT wins alongside his 23 TT victories.

Who won the battle for second place?

Shaun Anderson finished second, even though Mike Browne had already got past him shortly before the end. On the final descent from the mountain, Browne struck trouble with his Norton and dropped back.

The duel behind the leader was far closer than the fight at the front. Anderson, from Banbridge in Northern Ireland, was clearly ahead of Browne after lap one, but the Irishman worked his way back. A strong sector between Ballaugh and Ramsey brought him within half a second, and at the Bungalow he took second place by a wafer-thin 0.124 seconds. By the start of the final lap that had become 2.607 seconds.

Then it turned around. Browne had to nurse his Norton ES2 over the closing miles and lost time. Anderson instead set his fastest lap of the race at 112.839 mph (about 181.6 km/h) and grabbed second place back. Browne finished third, 27.363 seconds behind the winner, making him the highest-placed rider not on a Paton. His final lap of 110.098 mph (about 177.2 km/h) was noticeably slower than those of the two riders ahead of him.

Why did so few riders reach the finish?

Of the more than thirty riders who started, only eleven saw the chequered flag. Technical failures ran through all three laps and hit precisely the best-known names in the field.

On the first lap Jamie Coward was already out at Quarter Bridge with the Craven Classic Racing Norton. Shortly afterwards Paul Jordan stopped at Parliament Square, where Joe Yeardsley’s race also ended. Michael Dunlop crossed the line after lap one in fourth and pulled straight into the pits; his Royal Enfield was beyond saving. Conor Cummins came to a halt at Windy Corner. Dean Harrison, riding the Chris Hughes Racing and Ted Woof Norton, moved up to fourth through Dunlop’s retirement but likewise got no further than Quarter Bridge.

On the final lap the run of trouble continued: Michael Sweeney, Michael Evans, Andy Hornby and Phil McGurk all retired. Australian David Johnson reportedly crashed as early as the first lap at Glen Helen and was airlifted to Noble’s Hospital, where he was said to be suspected of leg injuries.

That kept things moving behind the podium. Barry Furber took the Martin Ireland Racing Honda 500 to fourth. Will Loder finished fifth on the Minnovation Racing Seeley Mk2 after Harley Rushton lost time on the Matchless coming down from the mountain and slipped to sixth. Ben Birchall, normally a sidecar competitor, came home seventh and was the first 350 rider to finish. Simon Collins, David Glover and Shelley Pike completed the top ten.

What McGuinness said after the race

In parc fermé, McGuinness talked mainly about the engine of his Paton and about a problem that occupied him during the ride. The tone was one of relief.

He described how the machine had been running against the limiter in top gear and kept pulling uphill: “The bike was flying, she was bouncing off the limiter in top [gear]. Up the mountain she was pulling and pulling – lovely!”

The ride was not entirely free of worry, however. McGuinness reported too much free play at the clutch, which he had to adjust himself along the way: “I had a bit too much free play in the clutch; I was panicking. I was having to adjust it myself, a bit of on-the-road adjustments.”

That the win came after such a long wait, and in this particular year, he commented on at the finish with a dig at his own age: “I wish I was 24, not 50. But the bike’s never really missed a beat all week.” He thanked the team explicitly, referring to team boss Roger Winfield by his first name and pointing out that the machine had also brought him bad luck in the past.

What role does the Paton play for McGuinness?

The Paton is the machine on which McGuinness has taken his Classic TT successes so far. His 2019 win also came on a comparable bike from Roger Winfield’s team.

Paton is an Italian manufacturer whose racing machines are closely tied to the Historic Senior class. McGuinness had already put the Winfield stable’s 500 at the top of the timesheets in practice, and according to reports he dominated qualifying comfortably. The result showed how strong the design is in this class: the top two places went to Paton riders, with Browne on the Norton the best representative of another marque.

The relationship between rider and motorcycle has not been free of setbacks. McGuinness himself says the machine has let him down several times, but has equally given him several wins. He mentioned one technical detail almost in passing at the finish: it is the only motorcycle on which he wears ear protection, something he goes without on a superbike.

The race in the context of the Classic TT 2026

The Classic TT 2026 was framed from the outset by John McGuinness’s thirty-year career on the Isle of Man, marked among other things by a dedicated exhibition. He had already stood on the podium in third place in Saturday’s Historic Junior race, that time on a Honda and with 99.232 mph (about 159.7 km/h), just short of the 100 mph mark he had been targeting. The event timetable had been brought forward at short notice beforehand.

The same Monday evening brought the two-lap Junior 600 race, won by Rob Hodson. Michael Dunlop did not take the start there. The Classic TT 2026 was due to close on Tuesday with the Classic Superbike race. What comes next for McGuinness at the TT is open. Earlier this year he finished fifth in the RST Superbike race at the Tourist Trophy, and a decision about his sporting future is still pending.

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