TEAM OF PARIS – AXA racer, Michael Rutter Triumphant in Record-Breaking Macau Qualifying

Michael Rutter, the six-times winner of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, claimed a dramatic pole position on the grid for tomorrow’s (Saturday) 44th running of the Far East classic on the very last lap of the second and final qualifying session.

The 38-year-old British rider on the Team of Paris – AXA Ducati 1198 looked certain to have to settle for second place on the grid after his young rival, Stuart Easton, had put in a record-breaking lap moments earlier to top the leaderboard.

But using all his experience and knowledge of the 6.2km Guia Circuit, Rutter put in a storming final lap to go round in 2:23.714 seconds, less than one tenth of a second quicker than Easton’s earlier 2:23.798 seconds.

Both men were well inside the existing qualifying lap record set by Easton last year of 2:25.476 seconds, and both riders were much quicker than Easton’s race lap record of 2:25.170 seconds set in 2009.

Easton, the 27-year-old Scot, was riding the Kawasaki Racing Team machine and is looking to win the race for the third time in succession.

Rutter, back at his best, is equally determined to stop his younger rival’s ambitions and take a seventh record-breaking victory himself.

Another British rider, John McGuinness, was third fastest on the IGT/sorrymate.com Honda, over two seconds slower than Rutter and Easton.  The 39-year-old American Jeremy Toye, on the Lee’s Cycles Racing BMW 1000, slipped from provisional third to fourth place on the grid, lapping two fifths of a second slower than McGuinness.

Simon Andrews, the 26-year-old British racer who raced for Team Of Paris – AXA in 2009, was fifth fastest on the MSS Colchester Kawasaki, a fifth of a second a lap slower than Toye.

Chris Peris, the 24-year-old Canadian on the Iron Horse BMW, was the fastest newcomer to the event, setting 12th quickest time out of the 26 qualifiers.

The TEAM OF PARIS racers, British Martin JESSOPP, French Anthony DOS SANTOS and Macanese Joao FERNANDES were respectively 15th, 24th and 26th.

The 15-lap race will be held on Saturday.

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Team of Paris AXA Ducati’s MichaelMichael Rutter this morning scorched round the Macau street circuit in a record lap time of 2 minutes 23.714 seconds in the dying seconds of second qualifying to take pole place for this year’s running of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix. (Highlights video below)

Stuart Stuart Easton, aboard one of Paul Bird’s Kawasakis had earlier set a lap of 223.798 but it proved to be not quite enough to usurp the veteran six-time winner. The front row of the grid is finished by John McGuinness on his IGT/sorrymate.com Honda with American rider Jeremy Toye making it four makes out of four on his Lee’s Cycles Racing BMW.
The second row is an all-British affair, with Simon Andrews in 5th, Gary Johnson 6th, James Hillier seveth and Jimmy Storrar eighth. Keith Amor, on the second Paul Bird Kawasaki lines up 9th, with Luis Carreira rounding out the top ten. James McBride is 11th after an overnight engine change and Canadian Chris Peris on a Kawasaki. In all 26 riders have qualified for tomorrow’s 15-lap race which is shaping up to be a real battle between the highly-experiencedMichael Rutter and Stuart Easton who is looking for his hat-trick of wins.

2010 Macau Grand Prix combined qualifying
1 6 Michael RUTTER GBR Team of Paris - AXA 2:25.245 11 2:23.714 15
2 1 Stuart EASTON GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 2:25.448 14 2:23.798 15 0.084
3 4 John McGUINNESS GBR IGT/sorrymate.com 2:28.691 14 2:25.955 17 2.241
4 57 Jeremy TOYE USA Lees Cycles Racing 2:27.323 12 2:26.301 15 2.587
5 17 Simon ANDREWS GBR MSS Colchester Kawasaki 2:27.519 15 2:26.621 19 2.907
6 69 Gary JOHNSON GBR MOCHA/IGT A.I.M. Suzuki 2:30.162 12 2:26.849 14 3.135
7 37 James HILLIER GBR MOCHA/IGT A.I.M. Suzuki 2:30.674 13 2:27.120 13 3.406
8 15 James STORRAR GBR DMR Racing 2:29.674 14 2:28.399 16 4.685
9 2 Keith AMOR GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 2:29.206 14 2:28.632 16 4.918
10 33 Luis CARREIRA POR Benimoto Suzuki Cetelem 2:29.564 14 2:28.822 17 5.108
11 9 James McBRIDE GBR Pazzo/Downview Finance 2:33.815 10 2:29.522 14 5.808
12 10 Chris PERIS CAN Iron Horse BMW ESP 2:33.964 13 2:29.693 15 5.979
13 11 Stephen THOMPSON GBR MSS Colchester Kawasaki 2:31.431 14 2:29.936 16 6.222
14 13 Rico PENZKOFER GER Mocha BMW 2:33.364 10 2:29.958 10 6.244
15 40 Martin JESSOPP GBR Team of Paris - AXA 2:30.679 12 2:30.173 12 6.459
16 12 Horst SAIGER AUT MV Agusta Grisoni 2:34.443 16 2:30.571 20 6.857
17 31 Mark MILLER USA Mocha BMW 2:32.813 14 2:31.169 18 7.455
18 5 Cameron DONALD AUS Relentless Suzuki by TAS 2:31.508 14 2:32.272 13 7.794
19 8 Mark BUCKLEY GBR Luminox BMW 2:36.756 15 2:32.068 19 8.354
20 68 David JOHNSON AUS East Coast Racing 2:35.297 15 2:32.965 18 9.251
21 50 Dan KNEEN IOM DMR Racing 2:37.738 14 2:33.618 19 9.904
22 26 Didier GRAMS GER Team Heidger-Motorsport.de 2:38.776 14 2:35.042 14 11.328
23 23 Michal DOKOUPIL CZE East Coast Racing 2:38.550 15 2:36.168 20 12.454
24 7 Anthony Dos SANTOS FRA Team of Paris - AXA 2:42.677 15 2:36.187 19 12.473
25 22 Sean DWYER USA Vicious Cycle Racing 2:41.945 13 2:37.472 15 13.758
26 32 Joao FERNANDES MAC Team of Paris - AXA 2:41.198 13 2:37.488 18 13.774

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Rutter set a new lap record on his way to pole at MacauBy Sum Yunguy

Team of Paris AXA Ducati’s Michael Rutter this morning scorched round the Macau street circuit in a record lap time of 2 minutes 23.714 seconds in the dying seconds of second qualifying to take pole position for this year’s running of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix. (Highlights video below)

Stuart Easton, aboard one of Paul Bird’s Kawasakis had earlier set a lap of 2'23.798 but it proved to be not quite enough to usurp the veteran six-time winner. The front row of the grid is completed by John McGuinness on his IGT/sorrymate.com Honda with American rider Jeremy Toye making it four makes out of four on his Lee’s Cycles Racing BMW.

The second row is an all-British affair, with Simon Andrews in fifth, Gary Johnson sixth, James Hillier seveth and Jimmy Storrar eighth. Keith Amor, on the second Paul Bird Kawasaki lines up ninth, with Luis Carreira rounding out the top ten. James McBride is 11th after an overnight engine change and Canadian Chris Peris on a Kawasaki. In all 26 riders have qualified for tomorrow’s 15-lap race which is shaping up to be a real battle between the highly-experienced Rutter and Easton who is looking for his hat-trick of wins.

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/498/8496/Motorcycle-Article/Easton-Wins-2010-Macau-Grand-Prix.aspx

Be it bike tests, feature stories or racing reports Madson has been scribbling at Motorcycle USA for almost a half decade. He rides whatever’s in the MCUSA garage - just don’t ask him to wheelie.

Stuart Easton (17) scored victory in the 44th Macau Grand Prix motorcycle street race.		Three in a row for Easton at Macau, this time for Kawasaki.
The Scottish rider is flanked on the podium by six-time Macau winner Michael Rutter and American Jeremy Toye.

Stuart Easton made it three in a row at Macau, with the Scottish rider taking the 2010 Macau Grand Prix victory. Campaigning this year for Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki, the 27-year-old snagged the win after fending off a challenge from roadracing vet and Ducati rider Michael Rutter. American Jeremy Toye scored the final podium spot with a third-place run on the Lee’s Cycles Racing BMW.

The race, run on the streets of Macau, was a two part affair following a red flag incident. The opening laps saw Easton take the early lead followed by the pole position-winning Rutter, with the red flag coming out when Canadian Chris Peris crashed after six laps.

On the restart Easton jumped back out front, once again followed by the 38-year-old Rutter. The Blade, a six-time winner at Macau, kept Easton in his sites, but it wasn’t enough. The Kawasaki rider peeled off a record-setting lap at 2:23.616 on Lap 8 and it was lights out from there. Easton would go on to cross the line a full 10 seconds ahead of Rutter, who dialed things down after a late race close call, brushing up against an Armco barrier.

Said Easton after the race: “I’m over the moon to make this my third victory in a row in Macau and to win on the Kawasaki ZX-10R. The Kawasaki Racing Team gave me a package today which I could dominate and break the lap record on, this speaks for itself and the work they’ve put in. It wasn’t all easy sailing for me however as Rutter put up a good fight for most of the two-part races. When I saw that he (Rutter) had caught me, I was devastated after trying so hard to break free. I thought if he could catch me after all that, there was no way I could beat him. But I tried again and managed to open a gap once more and gradually pulled away to win the race by almost 11 seconds .I would like to thank the boys, Pirelli tyres, Kawasaki and to Paul Bird for giving me this opportunity.”

Toye bested MSS Colchester Kawasaki rider Simon Andrews for the final rostrum position, the pair finishing within a second of each other at the line. Suzuki rider Gary Johnson rounded out the top five, with former Macau winner and Isle of Man TT legend John McGuinness taking up sixth on the results sheet.

Following Toye, the highest placed American at Macau was Mark Miller, who placed 12th aboard the Mocha BMW. The Macau Grand Prix website reports Peris “was detained in hospital suffering from a mild right lung contusion and concussion.”