John McGuinness admitted that he “hasn’t felt at all” before Monday’s Man Tober bike race in 2025.
The 23 TT winners were practicing for a week and were on the pace at the start of the four-lap superbike contest on Monday.
McGuinness, who dropped outside the top 10 at one stage, came together to score the top 7 results on Honda fire trucks.
Commenting after the race, he said, “I need that” to get my head right.
“It was necessary,” he told TT+.
“That’s weird. I’ve been racing here since 1996 and I don’t feel that at all.
“I’ve been struggling for a long time, some wet patches (actually) and I was a bit scared.
“But the conditions were good and I was wearing the No. 1 to leave No. 1 at Honda.
“I was a duck sitting a little, everyone caught me.
“But honestly, I did my best, hit all the spots, got off to a slightly lazy start and then there was a good pit stop.
“And it’s never finished until it’s over. You have to keep fighting and pushing. I enjoyed the race, and that’s about racing for me.”
McGuinness added:
“But then the bike jumped into fake neutrals around waterwork.
“So I lost Dean’s towing. It got a bit crude at first, then I was like, ‘come’.
“I just took a deep breath and thought we were good for the pits. Honda is good for fuel, so I thought we were more still than others.
“So we were coming and going, and then we continued.
“And I said at the end I had to keep focused.
“I saw the P9, P7 and I was like, ‘That’s fine, this.’ It’s good to look at the single digits.
“When I saw the P14, I was like, ‘Oh, no, I’m going to get a P45 at this rate.’ The good thing is that the team just said, “Go and enjoy yourself.” You can’t ask for anything more than that.”
McGuinness did not take part in the SuperSport race on Monday afternoon. Because he’s only ridden in a superbike and superstock class this year.
