John McGuinness won his third Senior Classic TT race on Saturday afternoon when the Winfield Paton rider took victory in the three-lap race which had originally been stopped due to an accident at Ballaugh.

The 2016 and 2018 victor came home 27.7s clear of the similarly-mounted Stefano Bonetti with Jamie Coward taking third on the Ted Woof/Craven.

Restarted at 4pm over the reduced distance of three laps, it was McGuinness who led at Glen Helen from Bonetti, Maria Costello, Coward, Derek Sheils and Alan Oversby and by Ballaugh Bridge, the Morecambe man had extended his lead over the Italian to 9.2s with Costello a similar distance behind in third. It was a Paton 1-2-3 with Coward’s Norton the first non-Italian machine.

By Ramsey, the gap had increased to 11.3s and Bonetti was now 15.5s clear of Costello. The battle for third was hotting up though with Coward now only 1.4s adrift and Sheils had now overhauled Oversby for fifth.

An opening lap of 111.679mph gave McGuinness a lead of 17.2s over Bonetti with the latter also breaking the 110mph barrier with Costello still holding onto third but only just with Coward having cut the deficit down to 0.97s on the drop down the Mountain. Oversby had gone up back up to fifth with Michael Rutter having also overhauled Sheils.

Second time though Glen Helen, McGuinness had pulled away further with his lead up to twenty seconds and Costello had also edged away from Coward on the nine-mile run from the Grandstand. She was holding onto the final podium position by 2.9s with Oversby still in fifth but Sheils now back up to sixth as Rutter slowed.

The gap remained the same at Ballaugh before McGuinness added another second to his lead at Ramsey but the battle for third was still raging and, indeed, the position had changed hands with Coward up to third and some 3.2s clear of his female rival. Oversby’s fine ride continued in fifth ahead of Sheils but Rutter stopped at Glentramman with a seized engine whilst Lee Johnston retired from ninth.

McGuinness’ second lap was slightly slower than his first at 111.590mph and although Bonetti had upped his pace to 110.95mph, he was now 24.2s adrift. A lap of 109.15mph enabled Coward to pull clear of Costello, his advantage now a healthier 8.72s. Oversby was over twenty seconds behind in fifth but more than 11 seconds ahead of Sheils, the only one of the top six who pitted for fuel.

The last lap saw McGuinness control his lead as both he and Bonetti posted similar lap times but he eventually took the chequered flag for his second Senior Classic TT win in succession, and third in total, by 27.793s.

Coward’s excellent 2019 form continued as he finished in third for his sixth Classic TT podium, with Costello taking fourth ahead of Oversby and Sheils. James Hillier retired on the final drop down the Mountain and that meant Chris McGahan, Hefyn Owen, Dave Matravers and Ben Rea completed the top ten.

Dominic Herberston and Danny Webb were two high-profile retirements in the original start and were unable to make the grid for the re-run.

Bennetts Senior Classic TT race result - conditions dry

1 1 John McGuinness Paton / Team Winfield 01:01:03.252 111.236 Silver
2 2 Stefano Bonetti Paton / Speed Motor 01:01:31.045 110.398 Silver
3 8 Jamie Coward Norton / Ted Woof / Craven Manx Norton 01:02:34.672 108.527 Silver
4 7 Maria Costello Paton / Beugger Racing 01:02:47.760 108.150 Silver
5 11 Alan Oversby Honda / Ireland Honda 01:03:15.199 107.368 Silver
6 18 Derek Sheils Honda / Greenall Racing 01:04:10.266 105.833 Silver
7 17 Chris McGahan Hughes Honda / Maurice & Ann Hughes fro 01:05:20.573 103.935 Bronze
8 31 Hefyn Owen Norton / Lee Jennings Racing 01:06:28.891 102.155 Bronze
9 34 Dave Matravers Norton / Paul & Dawn Matravers 01:08:11.523 99.592 Bronze
10 20 Ben Rea Steadplan Primus Honda / Steadplan Primu 01:08:12.988 99.557 Bronze
11 38 Will Loder Seeley / Team Minnovation 01:08:38.365 98.943
12 41 Keith Clarke Norton / Izzard Racing 01:09:21.629 97.915
13 35 David Madsen-Mygdal Honda / Team Gimbert Racing 01:09:45.642 97.353
14 55 Colin Stockdale Honda / Whitby Tyre & Exhaust Centre Ltd. 01:11:52.551 94.488
15 42 Alec Whitwell Bates Honda / Geoff Bates Racing 01:12:51.748 93.208
16 58 Arthur Browning Seeley / Wobbly Bob Racing / Atherstone A 01:13:32.456 92.349
17 67 Grant Sellars Manx 01:15:07.302 90.405
18 65 Ian Bainbridge Norton / Janette Bainbridge 01:16:18.247 89.004
19 75 Gary Freeman Honda / Isle of Man Copiers - Mark Corrin 01:18:01.023 87.050