McGUINNESS ‘GP bosses should make Mir run No1’
Why Mir is making a mistake not running the champion plate
Whether or not world champ Mir would run the No1 plate was being talked about for weeks – and now he says he’s sticking with his old number. In my opinion GP bosses should make him run No1. It looks iconic and people look up to it. Yes, I ran No4 when I won the 250 British Championship and for my first TTs, but if I was a world champion I’d be proud to run No1. Foggy rocked No1 pretty well didn’t he? But there are of course exceptions… Sheene was 7, Rossi 46 and Marquez kept 93. Riders are fickle, Foggy raced in the same green T-shirt forever; I put a penny down my leathers, wore ‘Daddy’ socks and had a voodoo doll on my helmet. There’s a lot of superstition in racing, Suzuki would no doubt love the No1 plate, but then why would they want to rock the boat? It’s the same with the TT and there’s always a big fuss over the numbers. Obviously it has bigger implications over there because it dictates the starting order. At the TT it’s a bit of a pecking order. There is a lot of pressure going off first. Even going off at 2, 3, or 4 you can see where the riders before you have been because there’s fresh rubber on the road, but if you’re No1 there’s none of that. It comes down to whether you can deal with being first and whether you’re fast enough, and if you are then you’re better off because there is no traffic. You also avoid a situation where if you go at No5 and the No4 rider breaks down and the yellow flags come out… you can lose five seconds in the blink of an eye. If you’re feeling confident as a rider, No1 is the place to be.
‘Foggy rocked No1 pretty well when he was WSB champ’