We spent last last week embroiled in the Isle of Man TT press launch: a horde of elite TT racers, a few morbidly obese journos and several of the event’s organisers descended on Jurby’s kart track for some heated battles, bumping and barging, and lots of cheating.
But there was one man parked as a spectator. John McGuiness suffered a throttle hand injury while off-road training in the Lake District over a month ago, and now faces a fight to be fully fit for the 2014 TT races.
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“It’s been a bad few weeks really. I was suffering a bit, I hurt my ribs and I must have had some internal damage because I was shitting blood for a few weeks. My scaphoid was broken, and that’s been screwed. I had the same injury in ’98 and that never effected me. I also did the luna ligament, which is probably going to be the worst bit.
“I’ll repair when I repair, and I think everything will be strong enough to compete at the TT. It’ll be down to just how much pain I can take. I’m up for the challenge and a rock in the Lake District ain’t going to stop me, that’s for sure.”
MX, enduro and general off-road skulduggery has bitten many racers in recent years. Does he regret anything?
“I don’t really. It’s been a massive part of my life since I was 3 or 4 years old. What works for me doesn’t work for others. It’s dead easy to go to the gym but it’s not my thing. You’re only as good as your last race, and I won here last year, and if it doesn’t work out his time then there’ll always be another year.”
McPint, in theory, could match Joey Dunlop’s win record this year. Read the full interview in the magazine very soon.
