Isle of Man TT 2012: Superbike TT Results

Honda TT Legends racer John McGuinness won his 18th career TT race, capturing the Dainese Superbike race to kick off the 2012 Isle of Man TT. McGuinness is second on the all-time Isle of Man TT wins list behind the late Joey Dunlop who has 26.

McGuinness was aided by two very quick and efficient pit stops by his crew. The first pit stop came after the second lap after McGuiness set a race-best speed of 130.382 mph on the Mountain Course. McGuinness held a 2.16-second lead over Wilson Craig Honda‘s Cameron Donald when they both entered the pits but McGuiness emerged with a six-second lead.

Donald reduced that lead to 3.8 seconds during the third lap but couldn’t maintain the pace and McGuinness regained a 6.2-second lead at the end of Lap 3. McGuiness continued to separate himself from the other riders and after a pit stop on Lap 4 ,  McGuiness’ lead grew to 13 seconds.

McGuinness grew his lead to about 18 seconds before easing up on the final lap to finish in a time of 1:46:03.06, translating to an average speed of 128.078 mph. Donald finished nearly 15 seconds back for an average speed of 127.780 mph.

Meanwhile, Tyco Suzuki‘s Guy Martin experienced a problem with his rear wheel axle that prevented his team from changing his rear tire on his second pit stop. Martin was in third most of the race but the fading rear tire cost him a podium finish as Padgetts Honda racer Bruce Anstey overtook him on the sixth and final lap, putting three Honda CBR1000RRs on the podium.

[Source: IOMTT]

By Dennis Chung