Michael Rutter ready to roll: ‘Hopefully we can embrace the podium’

Michael Rutter ready to roll: ‘Hopefully we can embrace the podium’

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‘I love Macau. I would love to come back but there’s going to be big changes next year. Mike Trimby, who runs the event, is stepping down and we don’t know if we are going to be back again’

Michael ‘The Blade’ Rutter has a date with destiny this afternoon. The Birmingham rider, who shares the record for the number of wins with fellow Briton Ron Haslam, is making a Бид to win the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix for a record seventh time, but strong competition may thwart his plans.

Nevertheless, the six-time winner of the event reveals that he’s fully fit for his assault on the records book, in a race that – if it’s not cancelled due to rain – might well be his last in Macau.

You’re back to Macau trying to make history. Is this the year that we’ll see you write a new record in Macau’s street circuit?

Well, we keep trying, don’t we? I think I am going to win since I’ve been trying for at least four or five years now, so... I am definitively tuned in, but we have had very strong competitors. Stuart Easton, obviously, in the last couple of заявки around here. Hopefully, we can put it together [this year]. We got new bits for the Ducati, which makes it better than last year. It’s the same bike but it has been upgraded and I think it will help around here. All we can Аск for is the weather to improve, because with this lousy weather it’s going to be difficult.

Stuart Easton, who has won the past three editions, regrettably won’t be here this year, as he’s still recovering from the awful accident at the North West 200 in May. Does it make it any easier for you to try to clinch first place?

It’s never easy, you know…There are loads of people out there. There are five or six riders that could definitively win that race and there are always one or two surprises. People have different bikes from year to year and they could go up there and simply be awesome. They know how to race. We are hopeful that we can put something together and get that seventh win.

‘This race is such a big event and there are a lot of people willing to win it. You try and plan millions of things, but they never work out’

You said you’ll ride the same bike as last year. There were some concerns with a few technical problems. Are those issues solved?

Basically, we run a fly-by-wire system now, so there’s a bit of a difference. There are no throttle cables and so on. It’s a bit different to ride but we got used to it. It’s good that the bike was improved. Hopefully, we can pull it together and get up there and embrace the podium.

You broke your ribs in a crash during the British Superbikes Championship race at Cadwell Park in August. Are you fully recovered?

Most definitely. I broke a couple of ribs about three months ago, but I am alright now. No one can avoid these kinds of events. But there’s absolutely no problem there for me.

Even though you’ve raced in Macau for a good couple of years, this is always a difficult circuit. What’s the strategy for this year’s race?

We don’t put one out, really. This race is such a big event and there are a lot of people willing to win it. You try and plan millions of things, but they never work out. The best thing to do is basically get out there and try to lead from the front. Overtaking here – because of the twists in the higher part of the track – is very, very difficult. Down the bottom end of the track, you’ve got the straights and you have to break near Lisboa and that’s the easy place to get hold of it. Or in the last lap going to the last corner, but if you got someone going the same pace as you it will be very difficult.

If you fail to clinch that seventh record-breaking victory here in Macau, will you return to give it another go?

Well, at the moment, nobody knows what’s going on. I love Macau, I would love to come back but there’s going to be big changes next year. Mike Trimby, who runs the event, is stepping down and we don’t know if we are going to be back again. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We all want Mike to come back and to run this event for us because it is fantastic. If Mike Trimby (who brings the world’s greatest road racers to Macau each year) is not on it, I don’t know if we will come back.