McGuinness confirms Kawasaki Isle of Man TT ride

23-time TT winner, John McGuinness, returns to the road racing scene for 2020 on the Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki

 

Fan favourite and 23-time Isle of Man TT winner, John McGuinness, has signed up to ride a Kawasaki ZX-10RR at the 2020 TT as well as the North West 200 with Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki.

Only last month, the 47-year old from Morecambe exclusively told us of his concern. “Nobody’s kicking my door down for my signature,” he told us. Yet with James Hillier’s subsequent move to the OMG Racing squad who’ll be making their road racing debut this year at the same events, the Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki seat became free for the 47-podium man to pounce.

McGuinness will ride the ZX-10RR in the RST Superbike, RL360 Superstock and Senior TT Races four years after his last podium appearance at the Isle of Man TT. He’ll also line-up alongside Alastair Seeley at the North West 200 after the Northern Irishman signed up back in November.

McGuinness said of Team Owner Peter Extance, “Pete drove all the way up from Bournemouth to Morecambe to meet me and put the offer on the table and it didn’t take much for me to sign – it was an easy decision. Everything made perfect sense and we’ve put together a good plan that will put us in the best position possible.” 

Since winning the 2019 Bennetts Senior Classic TT race in August, just two months after the Norton showed its unreliability during the TT, McGuinness has raced a BSB-oriented Buildbase Suzuki at Darley Moor in October, finishing runner-up behind Richard Cooper, while qualifying 4th on a PBM-run Ducati V4R at Macau on his first time on the bike. Despite the warm-up lap break-down, he remained upbeat, “I don’t look the healthiest athlete in the world but I rode as good as I’ve ever gone, so for me it’s ticked all the boxes. My mojo’s back!”

Pete Extance said, “We both know there’s a big job ahead of us to be ready for the new season but it’s one that we know will be great fun. Hopefully, we can put John McGuinness back on the podium at the Isle of Man TT and North West 200 in 2020, the place where we know he belongs. Together with Alastair, we have a simply stunning line up of riders for the International road races and we can’t wait for it all to start.”