The Spark Inside - Issue 01

It's been another busy month at NGK Spark Plugs UK - our latest round up showcases NGK Ambassador updates from the Isle of Man TT, Speedway GP and the BTCC Championship!

McGuinness stars on return to Isle of Man TT

Motorcycling legend John McGuinness – who is sponsored by ignition and sensor specialist NGK – celebrated his 100th start at the Isle of Man TT Races on Saturday with a fine fifth place in the six-lap RST Superbike race.

The 23-time winner returned to the top five in a 1000cc race for the first time since 2016 as he appeared back with Honda Racing on the island for the first time in six years on the Honda Fireblade with which he’d enjoyed so much success in the past.

After a successful week of qualifying put him in a good position ahead of the opening race, a solid opening lap of 128.43mph saw McGuinness slot into tenth place and he was then able to increase his pace and steadily work his way up the leaderboard.

A second lap of 129.27mph enabled him to gain three places and climb up to seventh and that soon became fourth after a fine pit stop by his crew at the end of the lap. However, only 13s covered McGuinness in fourth to seventh placed James Hillier with regular sparring partner Ian Hutchinson and Jamie Coward sandwiched in between.

A fourth lap of 129.14mph meant McGuinness’s advantage over Hutchinson was just 3.5s and with the Bingley rider having a quicker sixth and final lap, he was able to overhaul McGuinness who held on for fifth place.

Commenting on the BikeSport website, McGuinness said: “Did I think I’d win it? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes. And after having some dark days in the past, never did I think I’d be doing this again, setting off at number 1 on the Honda Fireblade and running round the Mountain Course at close to 130mph.”

Mark Hallam, Marketing Manager, NGK Spark Plugs (UK) Ltd, said: “It was an incredible achievement by John?on his return to the TT taking into account his time off the bike. I’m sure his many fans were thrilled at seeing him back in action at the iconic event where he has achieved so much success.”

Hamilton celebrates strongest BTCC performance

NGK customers have enjoyed a great day out watching British racing driver Nic Hamilton in action in the 2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).

Hamilton is an Ambassador for the ignition and sensor specialist and was racing at Oulton Park in the latest round of the 2022 championship where he showed great promise behind the wheel of a Team HARD. Racing Cupra Leon.

Nic said: “A pretty positive weekend in terms of development progress and overall pace. We still have a few bits to fine tune with regards to my servo brake to keep me a bit more consistent through the races and in qualifying, but this is quite an easy fix, so I am looking forward to that.

“Race one was definitely the strongest race I’ve had all season, although I had a bad start due to my hand clutch and being on a hill. It’s quite difficult to start due to the undulations on the pit straight so I dropped all the way back to last but I managed to come through and gain four or five positions to recover to P22 which I was super happy about.

“I knew I needed to do something about the starts on the hill, so I tried something new for race two but unfortunately, I stalled which is the first time I have done that in a very very long time. However, this just shows that we are now just trying to find those extra little bits to keep us in the pack. That’s something we can work on, but I don’t think it’s going to happen again and putting the start issue aside the pace was really good and I have to be happy with that.

“Race three I started much further back due to the stall in race two and unfortunately, I was tagged which put me onto the grass and off the back of the pack by about five seconds. I pushed hard to close that gap and by the end of the race I was right back on the pack and crossed line under one second behind. So, in all this it shows that from the start of the season I am now able to close up on the pack and maintain my pace throughout the race due to not being in pain from my legs which is great.

“Now it’s all about using the pace I have found to take advantage, make the right decisions, moves and be a bit more clinical with my racing. I felt like I am relearning that aspect of racing again but honestly Nic 2.0 is 100 percent in full effect, and I will keep on developing and continue to build towards some good results from now until the end of the season.”

Hamilton, the brother of seven-time World Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, has a long-standing relationship with NGK Spark Plugs (UK) Ltd.

Mark Hallam, Marketing Manager, NGK Spark Plugs (UK) Ltd, said: “We invited some lucky customers to visit Oulton Park as our guests and enjoy the hospitality of Team HARD. Racing while watching Nic in action. We are planning to take more customers to see some of our other sponsored motorsport stars race over the rest of the 2022 season.”

NGK Speedway stars in a strong position after podium places

NGK-sponsored Speedway stars sit in a strong position in the race for the 2022 World Championship title following back-to-back rounds in Germany and the Czech Republic.

Sweden’s Freddie Lindgren is in fourth place following his third-place finish at the weekend in Teterow, Germany with Britain’s three-time World Champion Tai Woffinden fifth after finishing runner-up in the Prague FIM Speedway GP of the Czech Republic the weekend before.

Briton Robert Lambert is now in sixth place after making his first SGP final in Germany with fellow countryman Dan Bewley also making the semi-finals to achieve an NGK full house of semi-final places and take him to?twelfth position in the championship.

Lindgren was delighted with his second podium in four rounds behind the weekend winner Polish racer Patryk Dudek.

He said: “I am really glad to have executed some good starts and ridden some good lines. I made sure I got the points to get into the semi. I gave it everything I had in the semi and the final. I am happy to be back on the podium.”

Lindgren’s third place followed Woffinden’s second-place finish in Prague.

Woffinden said after making the podium: “We didn’t have the greatest first round in Croatia, but I made the semis at the second round in Warsaw. Here tonight, the goal was to make the final and we did that. I said before tonight that I don’t mind a challenge and here we are. Let’s see how the rest of the year goes.”

Poland’s Bartosz Zmarzlik now leads the championship on 62 points with Lindgren on 46, Woffinden 43, Lambert 36 and Bewley on 32.

John Money, who handles Speedway sponsorship on behalf of NGK Spark Plugs (UK) Ltd, said: “Freddie and Tai have taken well-deserved podium positions in the last two meetings and are well placed in the championship. It was great to see Robert achieve his first Grand Prix final appearance in Germany while Dan too is showing great promise as we head to the Polish SGP in Gorzów on June 25th.”

For more information about NGK Spark Plugs (UK) Ltd and its products and services, please visit www.ngkntk.com/uk?