John McGuinness set to mark 30th anniversary of racing at North West 200 in May

McGuinness made his debut at the event in 1994 on a TZ250 Yamaha and has won six times around the 8.9-mile ‘Triangle’ course.

Riding for the official Honda Racing UK team again this season alongside young Manxman Nathan Harrison and new signing Dean Harrison, former British 250cc champion McGuinness was always eager to make the trip to Northern Ireland to race at the North West 200 from early on in his career.

“I always wanted to do the North West,” said McGuinness.

“I had been competing in the British championships but I wanted to be a road racer. I’d read all the books, listened to the stories and my mates Lee Pullan, Mick Lofthouse and David Jefferies, were all doing it.

“It seemed the natural thing to do and I was offered a free boat and a free entry to race in 1994 which now, in this day and age, is unheard of.”

The 23-time Isle of Man TT winner, who will celebrate his 52nd birthday next week, travelled to the event for the first time with his then partner Becky, who he later married.

“We just rounded up a few tins of beans and soup and set off in the van,” McGuinness reminisced.

“But my Dad, who was my mechanic, didn’t want me to go road racing and he refused to come with us. I didn’t have a clue what I was letting myself in for really.”

The Morecambe man qualified down the field on his 250cc Yamaha and failed to finish either race in 1994 due to clutch issues, but only two years later McGuinness was battling with established stars such as Joey Dunlop and Phillip McCallen.

“If you asked me to pick one standout moment in the past 30 years at the NW200 it would be in 1996,” he said.

“After two years of learning the track and weighing the job up, I found myself in the leading group of the 250cc race when the flag dropped.

“That was a defining moment for me, a moment when I thought I could do alright at road racing because a lot of the 250cc greats were there including Joey Dunlop, Phillip McCallen, Phelim Owens, Robbie Milton, Callum Ramsay, Woolsey Coulter, and Owen McNally.

“I’d gone from struggling on bikes that weren’t the most competitive to dicing with Joey Dunlop.”

McGuinness sealed his maiden podium a year later with a runner-up finish in the opening 250cc race behind Scotsman Ramsay and finally clinched a breakthrough success in 2000 in the two-stroke class.

He bagged a double with 400cc and Supersport wins four years later before adding a coveted Superbike victory on the HM Plant Honda in 2007.

McGuinness won his second Superbike race in 2010 while his most recent success also came in the blue riband class in 2012.

This year, McGuinness cites his goal as helping new team-mate Harrison succeed at the North West after admitting his days of winning at the event himself are likely in the past.

“This year the goal for me is to help Dean Harrison, my new Honda team-mate, win at the North West and I want Nathan to have a safe race,” he said. “For me, I just want to go out and enjoy myself.

“During the last couple of years I’ve maybe been under the radar a little bit in fifth, sixth or seventh but I’m more than happy with that… it’s all I’ve got in my armoury these days.”