Macau GP Podium For Jessopp, Top Ten For McGuinness
The 52nd Edition Macau Grand Prix proved successful for FUCHS Silkolene backed PBM riders Martin Jessopp and John McGuinness with third and tenth place finishes respectively in a race shortened to eight laps due to a red flag.
Making his debut on the factory-supported Be Wiser Tak Chun Group by PBM Ducati Panigale R for the reigning Macau GP champions, 32-year-old Jessopp, from Yeovil in Somerset, started on the front row but dropped to fifth in the early laps.
Jessopp gradually made his way past Gary Johnson and Danny Webb to move up to third by half distance and set about chasing the leading pair of Peter Hickman and Michael Rutter. However, the gap was just too much and when the red flags came out on lap nine of the scheduled 12 lapper, a result was declared with Jessopp in third, leaving him to take his sixth podium around the 3.8-mile Guia street circuit
Meanwhile team-mate John McGuinness returned to the track the for the first time in two years following injury and rode sensibly to claim tenth at the flag. Starting on row three, the 23-times TT winner from Morecambe kept out of trouble and brought the Be Wiser Tak Chun Group by PBM Ducati Panigale R home safely to claim more significant progress since badly breaking his leg in May 2017.
Images courtesy of Sports Bureau of Macao: Martin Jessopp (40) and John McGuinness (4)