John McGuinness: Losing Classic Senior Manx GP win by 0.1s “hard to swallow”

Isle of Man TT legend John McGuinness says losing victory in the 2024 Classic Senior Manx Grand Prix race by 0.163 seconds is “hard to swallow”.

The 52-year-old previous winner in the class set off at number one on the road in Monday’s shortened single-lap Classic Senior race aboard his Paton 500.

McGuinness led by 4.457s over eventual winner Shaun Anderson through Glen Helen, and extended that to 4.7s through the following two sectors.

But over the mountain section of the 37.75-mile Isle of Man course, Anderson started to slash the gap, with McGuinness ending up 0.163s adrift on corrected time at the chequered flag.

Speaking to Manx Radio, McGuinness says he lost too much time through the wet patches at Cronk-ny-Mona but praised Anderson for being “fast all week” on his Paton.

“It wasn’t as bad actually as I thought it was going to be,” said McGuinness.

“There were a couple of times where I thought ‘damn, I’ve got to go through there a little bit quicker’.

“Just that last sector was really wet from Cronk-ny-Mona to the end, that’s where they are telling me I lost it.

“So, hard to swallow. There you go. We got a race under our belt and I hope the crowd out there enjoyed what we put on there.

“Fair play to Shaun, he’s been fast all week. It hurts a bit, I wanted to win it - 0.1s is nothing, is it? But there you go, we did our best.”

Anderson’s Classic Senior Manx GP win marked his first visit to the top of the rostrum at the event and admits he “had no idea” how close he ended up being to McGuinness.

“Speechless really, I’ve come here since 2010,” Anderson said.

“We’ve been very fortunate to stand on the box before in second place in the newcomers race and I’ve been chasing a win ever since year after year.

“And sometimes we’ve been close, sometimes we’ve been further away.

“So, to have it that close, I had no idea. I knew we were in the hunt, we saw Jamie [Coward] early on, Mike [Browne] had just caught Jamie and I passed Jamie.

“Then we were trying to get across the gap to Mike and I went up the inside of the Veranda and I lifted him up a fraction, and I really have to apologise to him for that there.

“But I knew I just needed to keep on charging.

“I really had no idea. I crossed the line, got down to the turning area and everyone was cheering and I was like ‘it must be good’. Then somebody gave me the number one. Just ecstatic.”

Picture credit: Manx Grand Prix Press