John McGuinness ensured his annual visit to Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough was a successful one at the weekend when he took his Padgetts Honda to no less than three runner-up spots. The Morecambe Missile was instantly at home around the woodland circuit and was on the pace in both the wet and dry, pushing Northern Ireland’s Ryan Farquhar in each of their Superbike battles. After taking second in the earlier heat, John made a brilliant start in Saturday’s opening leg of the Darran Lindsay Superbike trophy race and led the field round at the end of the first of 8 laps. However, on lap 3 the red flag came out due to an incident and was eventually re-started over 4 laps. It was again a repeat performance from John when the lights turned green and he led Farquhar as they swept onto their second lap. Lapping close to a personal best lap around the undulating road circuit, John looked like he’d hold on for the win but Farquhar dived up the inside at Mountside Hairpin and he had to settle for second, just 0.9s adrift. Whilst Saturday’s conditions were perfect, Sunday’s were very different with fog hitting the seaside venue in the early morning and then rain showers occurring during the course of the afternoon. Again realising the importance of good starts for the narrow Oliver’s Mount circuit, John made the perfect getaway in the second leg of the Darran Lindsay Trophy event and it soon became a two-horse race between himself and Farquhar. At the end of four laps, there was just 0.7s between them but Farquhar was in determined mood and he took over the lead on lap 6 to again force John into accepting second. That just left the feature International Gold Cup race, one which John won back in 1999, and it followed a similar pattern as the previous two Superbike races only this time Farquhar grabbed the holeshot. John sat on his back wheel in the early stages but wet-weather specialist Farquhar wasn’t to be denied his first Gold Cup and so John took his third second place of the weekend, wheelying his way along the start and finish at the end of the 8 laps. Speaking later, a pleased John said; “It was 15 years ago that I made my debut at Scarborough and I enjoyed the 2011 event as much as I did the 1996 one. It’s such a good circuit to come and ride at and it was again great to see a big crowd so, hopefully, we’ve all put on a show for the fans. I was really pleased with my starts this weekend and really thought I had the better of Ryan on Saturday but he somehow did me on the brakes and there was no way back for me. I was as late as I possibly could be going into Mountside yet he still came by and he had his bike totally under control - it was 100% neat and tidy so fair play to him!” “Sunday was a lot harder due to the weather and it was certainly tricky in the Gold Cup race. I enjoyed it though even though half the circuit was bone dry and half of it was wet through! I had great feeling from the Padgetts Superstock bike and that allowed me to keep Ryan honest in all three of the races and I couldn’t have done anymore. To come away with three second places is very pleasing and it’s been a great weekend for both me and the team so we’re all going home happy.” John now heads back to the short circuits and France where he’ll be taking part in next weekend’s Le Mans 24-Hour World Endurance Championship race with his Honda TT Legends team. ENDS