John McGuinness won a thrilling PokerStars Senior race on Friday evening when he came from behind to take his 17th TT victory in the final race of the 2011 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy in a new Race Record time of 1:45.45.80, beating Steve Plater’s 2009 time.

The race was delayed by five hours due to inclement weather in the North of the Island, and the Honda TT Legends rider found himself seven seconds in arrears at the end of the first lap but he gradually reeled in early race leader Guy Martin and he was 13 seconds clear by the end of lap five.

His eventual winning margin over the Relentless by TAS Suzuki rider was 7.2s while Bruce Anstey, who was right in the frame in the early laps, took third on the Padgetts Honda a further seven seconds behind Martin.

“I can’t remember being pushed that hard in a Superbike race for a very long time,” McGuinness said. “It took me a lap or so to get into the rhythm of the Superbike again and I made the odd little mistake at the beginning there.

“I settled down after lap two, we had a mega pit stop and after that I was just going for it. On laps three and four I was pushing really, really hard and after another good pit stop I was able to run round on the last two laps with enough pace to stop Guy catching me.

“He made me work for it though! I want to thank the whole team and everyone who is behind the scenes making this happen – without them I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now. I’m so proud of winning my 17th win.”

Australia’s Cam Donald took fourth in the Senior TT, edging out a fast-finishing Keith Amor for the result as he completed the top five.

Earlier in the week, McGuinness also finished second in the Superstock TT event behind Michael Dunlop.

With two wins and four podiums, McGuinness was the comfortable winner of the overall TT Championship taking the Joey Dunlop Trophy by 31 points from Amor and Martin.