No highland fling for McGuinness at Knockhill

Raceline Photography
By Phil Wain
July 3 2005

John McGuinness had a weekend to forget at Knockhill with rounds 13 and 14 of the British Superbike Championship failing to yield any points. The Scottish venue was, for once, bathed in sunshine but it failed to shine on John and he only completed five laps in total from the two races.

Exemplary on the roads, luck continues to desert the AIM Racing rider on the short circuits, and he now has failed to score points since the third round at Mallory Park.

Practice conditions were slightly overcast during Friday’s free practice and John found himself in 15th place at the end of the day, just over a second behind the pace setting Honda of Ryuichi Kiyonari. With conditions perfect in official qualifying on Saturday, he managed to shave over half a second off his time, but a lap of 50.611 seconds was only good enough for 19th overall and the fifth row of the grid. It also meant he was 1.2 seconds adrift of Kiyonari, who took the pole position.

He was back up to 14th in the morning warm-up on Sunday, and the opportunity to score some points looked on the cards once more. However, just as the first race was about to get underway, he noticed a problem with the clutch and he was forced to wheel his machine off the grid. With his TT-winning machine still in bits, there was no spare machine and he was forced to take up the reluctant role of a spectator. It didn’t get any better in the second race later in the day either when he retired on the sixth lap, the front brakes failing to work around the 1.29-mile venue.

Reflecting on the meeting, a naturally disappointed John said: “After experiencing the highs at the TT, this is undoubtedly the lows and I’ve had nothing but bad luck in the BSB series this season. I’ve been working really hard all year so to be halfway through the season with just eleven points beside my name is bitterly disappointing, and I don’t know what I have to do to turn my luck around. Surely, it must change soon.”

John and the team will now endeavour to put the meeting behind them, as they make their way to Snetterton in Norfolk for the next round of the championship, which takes place on Sunday 10th July.