TT legend John McGuinness suffers first crash in six years at Oulton Park BSB

John McGuinness’ motorcycle racing career is among the longest we’ve ever seen, so long that his crash drought lasted longer than the peaks of some riders’ careers.

For some riders, competing at the top of their championship can last almost their whole career. 

Take Marc Marquez, for example, whose first world title came in 2010 and who is still fighting for a MotoGP crown in 2026, 18 years after his debut in the world championship.

Or go off-road and look at Jeffrey Herlings, who is currently steaming towards a third MXGP world title, and sixth in total, 16 years after he won his first MX2 grand prix in 2010.

On the other hand, a rider like Casey Stoner had a peak that was much shorter-lived, with a first world title coming in 2007, a second in 2011, before he retired at the end of 2012.

John McGuinness’ career certainly falls into the former category, even if by 2026 his days of winning Isle of Man TT road races are behind him.

But the length of McGuinness’ career has allowed him to amass a crash drought that lasted longer than the gap between the aforementioned first MotoGP title and his retirement from full-time racing.

The Honda Racing UK rider was out at the Oulton Park BSB last weekend, competing in the Superstock class, and was running in 15th place in the second race when he crashed at Knickerbrook.

It was certainly an odd sight to see the 23-time TT winner in the gravel, but he was okay afterwards and made a note of the amount of time it’d been since he had last fallen.

“That’s the first time I’ve crashed a bike for about six years,” McGuinness said after the race.

“As disappointing as it is, the weekend and the race were going well up until that point. 

“I’d put my fastest ever lap at Oulton Park together and was enjoying my racing. 

“Green sectors prior to the crash showed that I was running at a good pace. 

“I’m okay and the bike is okay, we’ll dust ourselves down and go again. I’m grateful to Honda Racing UK for putting the bike under me and to my crew for running it so well all weekend.”