Macau GP: Event race report

Easton Wins Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix Again at Record-breaking pace

Stuart Easton (Hydrex IGT Honda), the 26-year-old Scottish road racer, won the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix for the second year in a row, breaking the lap record in the process, but his victory was in doubt until the final few yards after striking rear tyre problems.

Easton led the pack away from the start on the opening lap and had built up a lead of over six seconds before his rear tyre began to show signs of excessive wear on lap six.

His main rival, Conor Cummins (PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team), the 23-year-old from the Isle of Man, then started to catch him rapidly. On the penultimate lap of the 15-lap race, Cummins took the lead, but Easton was not giving up without a fight.

At Lisboa Bend he regained the advantage and then used the lapped traffic to stretch an advantage over Cummins, crossing the line almost two fifths of a second in front of his rival.

Easton set a new lap record for the 6.2km Guia Circuit at two minutes 25.17 seconds - 151.76kph on the fifth lap of the event.

Ian Hutchinson, the 30-year-old Yorkshire rider, on a second PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team machine ran home in third place, his best ever finish in the event, after catching and re-passing Gary Johnson, the 29-year-old from Lincolnshire, in the closing stages to cross the line over five seconds ahead.

German Rico Penzkofer (BMW Macau Racing Team) was fifth home, nine seconds behind Johnson with six-times winner of the race Michael Rutter (Team of Paris-AXA Racing Kawasaki) a disappointing sixth.

Frenchman Amaury Baratin (Team of Paris-AXA Racing Triumph 675) won the Supersport 600 Class, beating Cheung Wai On (Kawasaki) of Hong Kong by just over three seconds. Third was local rider Joao Fernandes (Cubic Macau Racing Team Yamaha).

-credit: macau