Brilliant Brands for Rutter with two more podiums
Fresh from his successful visit to the Imatra road races in Finland, Michael Rutter was back in Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship action at the weekend with round seven taking place on the iconic Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. – and the Bridgnorth rider enjoyed another great meeting with two seconds and a fourth on the Bathams/SMT Racing BMW.
Having qualified in an excellent third place and on the front row, Saturday was scheduled to have two 17-lap races take place but both were shortened, the first due to a crash and the second due to rain. However, Michael was in the thick of the action in both and the opening eight-lap encounter saw him sit in second place throughout and he took another podium position just 0.629s behind race winner Richard Cooper.
The second race saw the 45-year old again battle with Cooper, Danny Buchan and Chrissy Rouse and there was never more than 1.5s between the quartet, Michael leading in the early stages. He eventually got shuffled back to fourth, albeit only 1.1s behind Cooper who was again victorious, with the race being stopped at the beginning of lap twelve due to rain.
A haul of 16.5pts consolidated his third place in the Championship table. Sunday saw a third race take place, this time over 16 laps and Michael immediately slotted into second place behind Cooper. The Suzuki rider edged away in the second half of the race and in the closing stages Michael came under pressure from Rouse and Buchan with all four riders bettering the old lap record.
Rouse sneaked ahead on the final lap but Michael responded immediately and duly crossed the line in second place once more. The results mean that Buchan still leads the Championship from Cooper with Michael maintaining third place on the BMW S1000RR and now 13.5pts clear of Rouse.
Michael Rutter: “It was another busy, but successful and rewarding weekend although I did struggle a bit with the brakes in Saturday’s races. I made a bad start in the first race although fortunately for me it got red flagged and in the restart I got off the line brilliantly. I led for a couple of laps and although Richard came by, he didn’t get away. I couldn’t quite get close enough to make a pass though but I was more than happy with second. In the second race, I led off the line again but by about lap four the brake lever kept coming back to the bar and I had to drop back.”
“I adjusted it but it took a lap to start working close to what it should have been although I was right with the front group when the rain brought the red flag out – if it had gone full distance, I think I could have got back into a podium position. In the third and final race, I got another good start and sat in second throughout but it was a long race particularly in the middle. We were all struggling for rear grip and I knew Chrissy would have a go but I managed to get back ahead and hold them off to the line. All in all, it’s been a great weekend so big thanks as always to the team.”
The next round takes place in two week’s time at Thruxton, Hampshire on 4-6 August.
