Race Corporation

PHOTO'S THEY'D RATHER FORGET

I KNOW...IT'S HAPPENED TO ME AS WELL...

If you have any pictures that qualify as "Photo's They'd Rather Forget", PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send them to me HERE for inclusion in this feature.

MORE FROM THE NORTHWEST 200

MICHAEL RUTTER:
"Firstly I would like to pass on my thoughts to the friends and family of Robert, whom I was a good friend and also a team-mate to at the TT in 1993. He was a great character around the paddock and will be sadly missed by everyone, he achieved so much in his career and it's a sad loss to the sport."

It has been an ideal race day for Rutter and the NW200 team over at the Kennedy International North West 200 race. The 36-year-old rider took a stunning victory in the opening Superbike race at the amazing Irish road circuit. Rutter who had qualified in second place on the grid behind John McGuinness, timed his move on the leaders to perfection and made a solid move on Guy Martin and John McGuinness on the last lap and took his twelfth North West victory. Rutter slid off in the Superstock race and was uninjured and secured a solid third place in the big North West Superbike race.

A good start in the first race saw Rutter 'The Blade' settling into second position behind Honda mounted Guy Martin. He knew that he would need to plan his time well to ensure of the win and he had to conserve his tyres wisely. Reaching speeds of 198 mph down the straights enables the riders the prime opportunity to make use of slip steam passes, which Rutter used to his advantage on the final lap drawing in the pair in front of him.

At one point Rutter had slipped back to fifth position behind Guy Martin, John McGuinness, Steve Plater and Cameron Donald. Planning his moves with precision he passed Plater on lap four of the five and moved to fourth, Donald ran on at the Metropole and allowed Rutter to move his way back through to third behind Martin and McGuinness. The torque of the Ducati and the double slip-stream effect gave Blade the perfect chance to take the lead on the final lap, holding off the hounding pair he took a stunning victory for the NW200 team, his first win at the North West since 2005.

A delighted Rutter commented after the opening race "This is the ideal start to the day for me. My team have worked so hard this week to find me the best set up. It's a new experience for us all to work together as a team over here and they have all worked very hard and this is the best way of repaying them. It's been a long time coming and with our teams association with the event it could have come at a better time and I'm delighted with the race result."

Rutter did not gain the best start in the Superstock race and fell back to sixth place by the first corner. Sadly he lost the front end of the Ducati into York corner on lap two of the 8.9-mile circuit. No sooner had he got back to the pits but he was out again on the Ducati F08 for the main race of the day. In an exciting and nail-biting six lap race with positions being exchanged on numerous occasions, it looked like Rutter would once again take the victory but a blocked move by Steve Plater on the last lap spoiled Rutter's hopes and he dropped from the first place he had just taken from Cameron Donald to third position over the line with Plater taking the victory.

Michael Rutter: "It's been a very good day for the team and I can't complain about the two Superbike results. I had a bit of a nightmare in the Superstock race and had a small crash, luckily it was nothing serious and I was able to get back to the start for the second Superbike race. I planned a clean move on Cameron late into the last lap and Steve (Plater) managed to come up the inside of the pair of us. I had to shut off out of the corner and lost my drive and ended up finishing third. I can't complain too much and I'm glad to be back on the podium at one of the events of the year that I look forward to the most. I would like to thank Mervyn and Alistair once again for putting on an amazing event, they do a fantastic job as do all the volunteers involved and 2008 has been no exception to what has been another incredible North West 200. I hope everyone has had a good weekend and enjoyed themselves."

A FITTING TRIBUTE...

NEWS JUST IN:
Michael Dunlop has taken victory in the 250 race at the North West 200 just two days after the death of his father Robert, having edged out second placed Christian Elkin. John McGuinness finished third. A highly emotional Michael said afterwards, "I had to do it for him. I am so proud. It's my dad's home circuit and he was the best round here."

ROBERT DUNLOP - THE SAD LOSS OF ANOTHER LEGENDARY MOTORCYCLE RACER

HAPPIER TIMES (ATHEA 2005) - Ronnie Shields THEN THE DUNLOPS - MichaeL, Sam with William ON TOP, Jim and Robert

FROM THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH:
Robert Dunlop will be laid to rest near his legendary brother Joey in a tiny Co Antrim rural graveyard, the Garryduff Presbyterian Church, at 4pm on Sunday 18th May. Tens of thousands of mourners, many of whom will attend the North West 200 today, are expected to flood the small village of Garryduff to pay their last respects to the sporting great who died tragically on Thursday night following a high speed crash during a practice lap of the North West race. The father-of-three, who holds the record for the most wins at the event, sustained serious chest injuries after he was thrown from his bike after it seized as he approached Mather's Cross.
It is believed he had been travelling up to 160mph. Mechanical failure is being blamed for the crash. Despite, losing her beloved husband to the event, Robert's grieving wife Louise gave her blessing for the race to go ahead today with organisers saying it would be a fitting tribute to the 47-year-old.
"Robert would never give up racing. He loved it and he regarded himself as having been a man with two careers. When he had a major accident in 1994 in the Isle of Man he pulled himself together and decided to race on despite the fact that physically he wasn't the same man. I love horses and I was at the Balmoral Show along with Robert yesterday, but he couldn't wait to get away to race at the North West 200. It was his life. But at the same time he knew it would eventually kill him. It's not being dramatic to say he had a premonition of death. That's not strictly true. But he was aware that the longer he continued to race the more chance there was of a serious accident. But he was prepared to accept the risk. He had to be in the thick of it himself. That was just his way."

STEVE PLATER TAKES POLE AT TRAGEDY-HIT NOTHWEST 200

Steve Plater has claimed pole position for the start of the two Supersport races at the Kennedy International North West 200 races on Saturday. He had been running pole for most of the session until Alastair Seeley posted a quick lap towards the end of Thursday’s final qualifying to take over at the top of the timing sheet.. But Plater was quick to respond with a time of 4m 33.749 seconds on his very last lap beating Seeley by 0.503s to start Saturday’s two Supersport races from pole position. Last year Plater finished second and a very close fourth in the two six-lap events and will be hungry for the win this time around.

A previous three times winner in the Superbike class and the current lap record holder, Plater will start the Superbike race and the feature race of the day, The Kennedy International North West 200, from a second row grid position after encountering a few niggling problems with the suspension on the AIM Yamaha R1...but the K-tech people have been working hard throughout the week and the bikes will all be in tiptop condition for the start of the four races on Saturday.

“Its been a bit busy for me over the last few weeks as I have done a lot of testing plus two World Endurance races and some BSB races in the run up to the roads season. It has actually helped me because although I train hard all the time you can’t beat miles on the machine to keep bike fit. For example for the Le Mans 24-hour race you do more miles in testing and on race day than you do at a full BSB season but on saying that its slightly different coming over here and racing on public roads and I still need to get a good few laps under my belt in practice to get settled back into road mode. We seem to have found a good race set up now and I will be trying my best on Saturday to pull off four good results.”

The tragedy that has struck the event is that rider Robert Dunlop has died at the age of 47 after suffering severe chest injuries in a crash in Thursday's practice session at the North West 200. Another Northern Ireland rider, Darren Burns, suffered a suspected broken leg and concussion in the accident, but was said to be stable in hospital. The accident happened in the 250cc qualifying session in County Antrim.

THE GERMANS ABSOLUTELY LOVE PHASE ONE...

Yup, I do not make this up...forget RMT21, the Austria Yamaha team, any BMW or KTM or otherwise Teutonically-influenced team. Check out the German Phase One Fanseite...der Homepage der Deutschen Fans

GWEN GIABBANI NO LONGER WITH KRT...

News just in is that major teams will be scrambling to pick up French racing superstar and policeman Gwen Giabbani now that he is no longer with the factory Kawasaki Racing Team, KRT. No news yet from Christian Bourgeois' team why he's not longer riding with them - but here at Race Corporation, we don't believe that it will be long before he is snapped up by another of the major teams...more news as soon as it comes in.

The Kawasaki Racing France website doesn't work anymore, so it's no longer in the teams list.

GMT94 GET YET ANOTHER SPONSOR

Christophe Guyot has long been known as a staunch Rock 'n Roller - and Gibson Guitars have now formally recognized this, as they will be making a GMT94 Custom in time for the 2008 Bol d'Or. First word is that this limited edition WILL be available for sale...so you can get something to match your GMT94 Yamaha Replica!

Guitars that burn...

DAMIAN CUDLIN SCORES BIG IN GERMANY

Australian Damian Cudlin has burst onto the German IDM Supersport scene with double podium finishes at the series opener at Lausitzring in Germany on the weekend. Starting from the 6th on the grid, Cudlin made a terrible start in the first race of the 2008 IDM Championship, languishing in 12th place on the opening lap before beginning his charge through the field. In a clinical display, Cudlin sliced through the pack one by one aboard his Dunlop shod Yamaha R6 to eventually reach the final step on the podium in 3rd place.

"When I'm not racing, I'm teaching race schools and I show people how to get off the line all the time, but all I showed today was how NOT to start a race.“ Damo said. "I made things a lot harder for myself with that slow first lap but I made up for it later on. I just felt really strong on the bike, particularly when the others were fading and I was so determined to get onto that podium. It was a nice reward for all the hard work I've been putting in.“

Damo's second race on Sunday proved to be better still as he showed he was in no mood to hang around, moving from 5th to 3rd on the second lap of the race. Reigning Supersport Champion Sebastian Diss was next in Damo's sights as the pair exchanged blows for the next series of laps. Losing ground on the leader all the time, Cudlin made a pass that stuck on Diss as he began chasing Triumph's Arne Tode. However Tode was too fast on the Lausitzring complex and held his advantage over the next 5 laps.
Cudlin then came under fire from team mate Rico Penzkopfer as the fight for 2nd became a hotly contested affair. Trailing Penzkopfer on the final lap, Cudlin made a stunning last lap pass to take 2nd at the flag.

"That really was a lot of fun! I tried to get to the front as quickly as I could in the hope of chasing down Tode but he was just too quick today. By the time I got into 2nd he was already away with it, so I focussed on staying in front of the rest until the finish. I
had a real fight with Penz in the last couple of laps that was really a lot of fun. Finally I made my move on the last lap which worked and I managed to hold it until the flag.“

With his 3rd and 2nd place finishes, Cudlin now sits 2nd in the title chase as the series moves to Oschersleben, a circuit Cudlin knows well from his 24 hour World Endurance Championship experience.
"I'm really happy with this weekend and also happy I could re-pay my SKM Bike Promotion Yamaha Team back with these results for having the faith to run with me this year. I'm really excited about the year ahead and can't wait to get to Oschersleben for the next round.“

The next round of the IDM series will be on the 17/18th of May.

Finally...want to try racing yourself?..EASY! Firstly, get the training done RIGHT FIRST TIME...contact Ron Haslam.