PRESS RELEASE - John McGuinness
 
McGuinness battles hard for top 12 finish

Morecambe's John McGuinness battled hard at Snetterton on Sunday to finish in 11th place in the latest round of the Metzeler National 1000cc Superstock Championship. The Padgetts Honda rider found himself on the verge of missing some points when he was lying in 15th place with just two laps to go but he dug deep in the closing stages to pull through and take 5 hard earned Championship points.

The weekend started steadily for John when he placed 10th in Friday's solitary free practice session but he improved his time by almost a second in the opening qualifying session to slot in to 9th place. Any chance of improving upon that though disappeared on Saturday when the second qualifying session was cancelled due to problems with the track surface at the Russell's chicane. Instead, another free practice session was held and, with a lap of 1m07.987s, John ended 7th quickest although he would still have to start from the third row of the grid.
 
With the Norfolk circuit bathed in beautiful sunshine, conditions were perfect for Sunday's 18-lap race and John was lying in 10th place initially before the red flag came out due to a number of spills around the 1.95-mile circuit. Reduced to 14 laps, the re-start didn't go so well for John and he was back in 12th after the first two laps of the race, a position which became 13th on lap 6 when Jonathan Howarth moved by. Involved in a terrific five-man battle for 11th, positions changed hands on numerous occasions but John was shuffled to the back of the pack with only two laps remaining. However, he overtook Howarth and Michael Booth in successive laps and with Lee Costello making a mistake in the closing stages he took the chequered flag in 12th place. This then became 11th after a post-race inspection found 5th placed finisher Scott Smart's bike to be underweight. The result maintains John's 9th place overall in the Championship table.
 
Speaking afterwards, John said: "It was a tough race today and I'm just slightly annoyed with myself for not getting a good start. I had good pace, good enough to run in the top 7, but I was just a bit tardy off the line and it meant I was in the 11th-15th group rather than the group in front of that. I was a bit weak at Sear's and also Russell's, probably the two most important corners on the track, and that meant I was losing a bit of time along the straights but I kept plugging away and managed to pick a few off towards the end of the race to get up to 12th. I need to get the starts right though as I know I can run in the top 8 consistently if I get away with the front group so I'll be looking to put that right next time out. I love the Brands GP circuit and it suits me down to the ground so I'm confident of giving the team a good result there." 
 
John's next outing will be at Brands Hatch over the weekend of August 6-8 where he will be again out in the Metzeler National 1000cc Superstock Championship.
 
Picture by Glynne Lewis
 
Phil Wain
Freelance PR