Isle of Man TT great John McGuinness 'needs to be more aggressive' in Ducati TriOptions Cup class

McGuinness was making his first competitive appearance at the Norfolk circuit and finished ninth in race one, improving one place to eighth in the second race to lie seventh in the standings overall after the first two rounds.

The Morecambe man, who was set to ride for the Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki team this year at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT until the Covid-19 pandemic decimated the calendar, feels he could have finished higher up the order with a little more aggressiveness at the start of both races.

“Overall, it’s been another good weekend although I felt I could have finished higher up than what I actually did,” McGuinness said.

“I need to have a bit more confidence in the opening laps and be a bit more aggressive so that I can fight for higher positions. The top four to five riders are out of reach at the moment but sixth is definitely within my grasp.

“It was my first time at the circuit and whilst I may have been to a million tracks during my career, this one was tricky to learn, particularly the infield section, and it took me a long time to get going.”

McGuinness is also continuing to adapt to the Lund Group Ducati but says he is ‘learning all the time’.

“The strong winds didn't help but I kept plugging away and set my fastest lap on the last lap of each race and I was 10 seconds closer to the leader in race two than I was in race one so I made decent progress,” he said.

“The bike’s not like the inline fours I’ve been used to riding but I’m learning all the time and it never missed a beat, so I’m looking forward to the next round.”

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