The Duke TT Superbike race finally went ahead today, Mad Sunday, 26 hours behind schedule. It was however, a race worth waiting for, with some close fought battles throughout the field.Pre-race favourite and TT lap record holder John McGuiness seemed calm and relaxed at the start. His main challenge was to come from Adrian Archibald, Ryan Farquhar, Bruce Anstey and Martin Finnegan. 41-year-old Ian Lougher should also never be discounted aboard his Honda. The riders were warned of damp patches at the Black Dub, Glen Helen, Ramsey Hairpin and Governors Dip.Ryan Farquhar was first man to leave the start, bang on time at 2pm. He was followed by top local rider Paul 'Big H' Hunt on his Cringle Suzuki GSXR. Next to leave was Bruce Anstey at number 3, followed by Finnegan, Archibald, Lougher, Britton, Griffiths and McGuiness. Rob Frost (14) was a non-starter, as was number 35 Ken Doherty after his crah in practice.At Glen Helen on lap 1, Maurice Maudsley announced that bike 2 Paul Hunt was first on the road, with no sign of Farquhar. When first Finnegan, then Anstey and Archibald arrived, it was obvious that Irishman Farquhar had problems, this later emerged when he was reported retired after only 4 miles (Crosby area.) McGuiness lead on the road by 2 seconds from Britton, with Anstey a further 2.5s back in 3rd place. Lougher was 4th, Archibald made his customary cautious start and was 5th, with Ray Porter (21) a fine 6th.On the run towards Ramsey, McGuiness increased his lead marginally to lead at the Hairpin by 3 seconds from Britton. Archibald jumped from 5th to 3rd with Anstey losing time, but he was 5 secs behind Britton. Lougher held 4th, 8 secs of Archibald, followed by Finnegan 5th (a further 3 seconds down) and Griffiths 6th.With the lights on for many of the leading bikes at the Grandstand, Paul Hunt steamed through first on the road. He was about 7th after lap 1 and was closely pursued by Anstey, Archibald and Finnegan. McGuinness' lead after lap 1 was 8 seconds over Britton, with Archibald close behind in 3rd. 4th was Lougher, 5th Finnegan and 6th Griffiths.1st - (10) McGuiness - 8 secs clear of 2nd place2nd - (8) Britton - 13 secs clear of 3rd place3rd - (5) Archibald - 13 secs clear of 4th place4th - (6) Lougher - 3 secs clear of 5th place5th - (4) Finnegan - 2 secs clear of 6th place6th - (9) GriffithsFastest Lap: (10) McGuiness - 17m 54.94s (126.359mph)Onto lap 2, and at Glen Helen, McGuinness extended his advantage to lead by 9.5 seconds from Britton, who in turn had also pulled away from Archibald by a further 3 seconds (gap now 16 secs.) Archibald remained ahead of Lougher with Finnegan and Griffiths 5th and 6th respectively.At Ramsey, McGuinness continued to steadily make time and now lead by 13 secs with Britton 2nd and Archibald a further 8 seconds down. The other three places remained unchanged, with Lougher, Finnegan and Griffiths maintaining station. Lougher was 21 secs behind Archibald and just 4 secs ahead of Finnegan.By the end of Lap 2, it was pit-stop time and Hunt and Archibald arrived side by side into the Stop Box. Sadly, Hunt was forced to retire with an oil leak to continue his miserable run in the big bike classes at the TT. McGuinness had by this time caught and passed some riders ahead of him and was second out of the pits behind Archibald, with Finnegan and Britton close behind. After 2 Laps, the leaderboard looked like this:1st - (10) McGuiness - 17 secs ahead of P22nd - (8) Britton - 8 secs ahead of P33rd - (5) Archibald - 31 secs of P44th - Lougher5th - Finnegan6th - GriffithsFastest Lap: (10) McGuiness - 17m 50.53s Retirements on lap 2 included (22) David Bell and (54) Stefano Bonetti.Lap 3, Glen Helen, and it was McGuiness by 22.5 seconds from Britton in second place. He was however being caught by the improving Archibald, who cut the gap to second place from 8 seconds to 6 second. Lougher remained 4th, albeit 33.5 secs down on Archibald, with Finnegan and Griffiths completing the top 6.In Ramsey the lead was up again to 27 seconds. Archibald took a further second off Britton to reduce the gap to 5 secs, with Lougher and Finnegan (who now could not be separated on time) 40 seconds adrift in joint 4th. 6th was still Griffiths, 23 secs behind the battle for 4th.By the end of Lap 3, Finnegan had got ahead of Lougher for 4th, but equally as interesting was that Archibald had overtaken Britton on time and was now 2nd behind McGuiness. The lead for the Lancastrian over Archibald was 28.14 secs, but Archibald was only marginally ahead of Britton, as was Finnegan over Lougher. Griffiths remained 6th, chased by (15) Guy Martin and (21) Ray Porter, both of whom were having great races. Bruce Anstey retired at the pits with mechanical faults and seemed very disappointed as he did not want an interview with Radio TT's Chris Kinley.1st - (10) McGuiness - 28.14 ahead of P22nd - (5) Archibald3rd - (8) Britton - 43 secs ahead of P44th - (4) Finnegan5th - (6) Lougher - 23 secs ahead of P66th - (9) GriffithsFastest laps: (5) - Archibald - 18.48.5 (10) McGuiness - 18.48.6By Glen Helen on Lap 4, McGuiness had only increased his lead by fractions of a second, to 28.65 secs. Archibald was now pulling away from Britton, who was 4 seconds back, but he held a comfortable 43 seconds over 4th placed man Martin Finnegan on the distinctive yellow Honda. Lougher was 5th with Griffiths scrapping with Martin for 6th.In Ramsey, it was all virtually change on the leaderboard with the news that Britton had retired at Alpine Cottage. Obviously McGuinness still lead, but with a reduced margin of 26 seconds, as by now Archibald was running at the same pace as the leader. 3rd was now Finnegan, with Lougher back to 4th and Martin 5th ahead of Griffiths. Porter was 7th.End of Lap 4 then and McGuiness lead by an increased margin of 33 seconds from Archibald, with Finnegan 3rd and Lougher 4th. Guy Martin was up to 5th ahead of Ray Porter 6th, with Griffiths dropping to 7th. No drama in pits although McGuiness' stop was 7 seconds quicker than his 1st - would he run out of fuel later on?1st - (10) McGuiness - 33 ahead of P22nd - (5) Archibald3rd - (4) Finnegan - 9 ahead of P44th - (6) Lougher - 36 ahead of P55th - (15) Martin 6th - (21) Porter Fastest Lap: (10) McGuiness - 17m 59s Lap 5 (Glen Helen) and the lead was down again by .5 of a second to 32.5. The other top 6 placings remained the same.In Ramsey, we were told by the commentary team that fans had been treated to a stunning 'stoppie' by (62) Robbie Silvester on the previous lap! McGuiness' lead was down again to 31 secs and Porter had got ahead of Martin for 5th place, although he was well down on 4th placed Ian Lougher.At the end of Lap 5, with just 1 circuit (and the only flying lap) to go, McGuiness had quickened over the mountain to lead by 34.6 secs with Archibald 2nd. Finnegan was over a minute behind in 3rd, followed by Lougher, Porter and Martin.1st - (10) McGuiness by 34.6 seconds, from...2nd - (5) Archibald - 1 min 4.8 secs ahead of P33rd - (4) Finnegan4th - (6) Lougher5th - (21) Porter6th - (15) MartinFastest Lap - (10) McGuiness - 18m 55sOn the last lap, McGuiness lead all the way round the 37.73 mile Mountain Circuit to win by 25 seconds from Adrian Archibald. He in turn finished 1 min 9 secs ahead of Martin Finnegan, who claimed his first ever podium at the TT. Well done to him.Ian Lougher just missed out on the rostrum, finishing 4th, whilst Ray Porter came in a fantastic 5th place with rising star Guy Martin an impressive 6th. Japanese rider Jun Maeda finsihed inside the top 10 (as I predicted) in a fine 9th place, recording his lap and race records, whilst there were fine results for Manx residents as (17) Nigel Beattie was 11th, (12) Gary Carswell was 12th, (19) John Barton (bithday boy!) was 13th and Castletown's Chris Palmer (28) finished 14th. American Thomas Montano brought the fabulous MV Augusta home in 17th position.Fastest lap 6 - John McGuiness (10) - 18m 3.15 secs. Race record time of 1hr 49 mins.Notable Retirements: (18) Ian Hutchinson, (20) Davy Morgan, (27) Darren Lindsay (who was at one stage 10th), (43) Dirk Kaletsch and (74) Anita Buxton, who also recorded her best ever lap.More racinhg tomorrow with the Superstock over 3 laps and Supersport Junior over 4 laps. Roads shut 9.30 am, racing underway 10.45am.