McPint on going as Kwik-as-hell
McGuinness finally rides his Kawasaki and he can’t wait for more
Ifinally got to ride the Bournemouth Kawasaki I was due to ride on the roads when I did some parade laps at the Scarborough Gold Cup. When you haven’t been on a Superbike for a bit, you forget how fast they are. I rode a Superstock Honda round there in 2016, but this was another stratosphere. The team put super-short gearing on it and I had the shift light flashing in top gear and I was thinking: ‘Jeez, how fast is this thing going?’ People seemed pleased to see me throw my leg over it. All weekend the bike was sitting there in the paddock looking a million dollars, everyone was looking at it, everyone loved it. The Norton I rode for the last two years was sophisticated, but no-one knew what to do with it. It had so much scope, but we never got to explore it properly. In contrast, I was speaking to Phil Biggs (my new crew chief at Bournemouth Kawasaki) and I’m saying that it was running on a bit in third gear and he’s saying he can fix that. And then he’s asking me if I could feel it dropping cylinders at full lean, which is something that is new to me.
I can understand what a bike is doing, but I always have to rely on the crew to sort it for me. You’d think that after racing for 30 years I’d know how to fix things, but hand-on-heart I don’t. And that is why having the right people around you, as I’ve always said, is so important. Riding the Kawasaki has re-lit my fire. I’ve got to work around the aches and pains I get from being older, but the drive is still there, my eyesight is still there and I’m probably not any worse than before I had by crash in 2016. Yeah, my stubble is a bit grey now but apart from that I’m good to go. Bring on 2021.
‘IT’S LIT MY FIRE. SURE I AM THAT BIT OLDER, BUT BRING ON 2021’