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2011
MONZA
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57th MACAU GRAND PRIX - 44nd MACAU MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX
November 18th-2st 2010
OFFICIAL SITE
STUART EASTON
MAKES IT THREE IN A ROW AT MACAU
Stuart Easton, the 27-year-old
Scottish racer won his third successive Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix with victory
in the 44th running of the Far East classic today (Saturday). Easton, on the
Paul Bird Kawasaki Racing Team machine, had to do it the hard way though,
beating off a strong challenge from King of Macau, Michael Rutter, on board the
Team of Paris AXA Ducati. Rutter, fastest in qualifying, chased his young rival
in the first part of the race until it was red flagged after six laps following
a crash involving Canadian Chris Peris. Then, in the restart, Easton made
another attempt to open up a gap over his older rival and at one stage, had got
a lead of almost two seconds, but Rutter, the 38-year-old British star, closed
the gap again and threatened to catch and pass the Kawasaki man. Easton
responded by quickening his pace, setting a brand new lap record of 2:23.616
seconds on the seventh of the nine-lap race, breaking Rutter’s spirit.
“When I saw that 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,” said Easton. At the chequered flag Easton’s winning
margin was almost 11 seconds over Rutter.
"I
tried to catch Stuart mid-way through the race but then I hit the trackside
Armco and said to myself, once is enough. I’m not doing that any more,”
said Rutter, who eased off the pace and settled for a safe second place.
Rutter must now wait at least one more year before he can win his
record-breaking seventh Macau GP.
Jeremy Toye, the 39-year-old American on the Lee’s Cycles Racing BMW grabbed a
dramatic third place within sight of the finishing line after Britain’s Simon
Andrews (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) had struck mechanical problems on the final
lap. Gary Johnson (MOCHA/IGT Suzuki), another British rider, was fifth home and
John McGuinness (IGT/sorrymate.com), the 2001 race winner, was sixth over the
line. Peris was detained in hospital suffering from a mild right lung contusion
and concussion.
RESULTS PDF
JOHN McGUINNESS
Mixed fortunes for
McGuinness in Macau
Morecambe's John McGuinness was left to rue what might have been at the annual
Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix on Saturday when tyre troubles held him back from a
potential podium place. Riding the IGT/sorrymate.com Honda, McGuinness had
qualified in a brilliant third place, posting his best ever lap of the 3.8-mile
Guia circuit, to look a good bet for the rostrum but with the race being stopped
and then re-started, the grip advantage he had enjoyed disappeared and he
slipped back to 6th at the end of the 9 laps.
The week started in the usual steady fashion for John as he posted the 6th
fastest time in the opening free practice session, the motorcycles again being
the first competitors to take to the track in the four-day event and thus
getting the dustiest and dirtiest track conditions. By the afternoon's first
qualifying session, the F3 and Touring Cars had laid more rubber down on the
track and John was able to cut his time by almost 5 seconds, a lap of 2m28.691s
placing him in 5th. The second qualifying session got underway at 7.30am on
Friday with both track and air temperatures hitting 21 degrees C and, as the
session wore on, the times tumbled. Indeed, in the closing stages, John posted a
superb lap of 2m25.955s to jump up to 3rd fastest overall which was not only
good enough for the front row but also his quickest lap in 13 years of
competition in the Far East venue.
Saturday's race day dawned warm and dry and as the 15-lap race got underway,
John tucked in behind American rider Jeremy Toye and here he stayed for the next
few laps. By lap 6, he was ready to make his move but just as he was lining up a
pass, the red flag came out due to a crash involving Canadian Chris Peris who,
fortunately, wasn't seriously injured. A new rear tyre was fitted to the Honda
but the front tyre advantage he had in the first part had now been lost and so
John found himself up against it in the shortened, 9-lap race. Starting this
time from fourth place on the front row, John was pushed back to 8th as the
riders reached the Lisboa Bend for the first time and although he fought his way
back up to 6th, he was unable to make the challenge he wanted and had to settle
for this position at the chequered flag.
Speaking later, John commented: "It's been another really enjoyable week here in
Macau but I'm just disappointed it ended how it did. All week, we've been
building up, getting quicker and quicker all the time and after the strong
showing in qualifying, I felt really confident coming in to the race. We'd got a
good set-up with the bike and had a good race pace and although I slipped back
to 4th at the start, I felt strong sitting behind Jeremy. I was ready to make a
pass on him and try and reel in the leaders but the red flag came out and that
pretty much spelt the end of the race for me. We fitted a new rear tyre but
didn't have one for the front and then I didn't get the grip from the rear in
the re-run as I would have liked so it made it a real battle. I fought my way
back up to sixth, which is still a solid result around what's a really demanding
and physical circuit, and it's been great working with the team. A big thank you
to Robin Croft of SMT for giving me the opportunity and also to Alec and Warren
who gave me great support and who worked really hard throughout."
COMBINED QUALIFYING PDF
THE LIST AND
CONTACT DETAILS OF HOTELS IN MACAU CAN BE FOUND
HERE
PAST WINNERS
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