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 on Saturday 20 November.
Easton, on the Paul Bird Kawasaki Racing Team Ninja ZX-10R, 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 machine. 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 veteran, 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
Easton, on the Paul Bird Kawasaki Racing Team Ninja ZX-10R, 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 machine. 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 veteran, 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
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