DESPITE the disappointment of breaking down less than half a lap into the Superbike race on Saturday, Bridgnorth rider Michael Rutter says he’ll be hoping to break a 130mph average lap during today’s Senior TT.
Flying straight to the Isle of Man for the TT races, following a 150mph crash at Thruxton during a British Superbike meeting last Monday, Rutter is hoping to beat his own personal best records – on both petrol and electric motorbikes.
Using specialised Ducatis for the race week, the bikes have still struggled to complete the four or six laps needed to complete a race a full speed around the 37.75 course.
But “The Blade”, who took time out of his extremely busy schedule on Tuesday to speak to Journal reporter James Fisher on Tuesday, at the grandstand in Douglas, said he was hoping to put all that right today.
“To be honest I’ve been a bit disappointed so far. The oil pressure built up on Saturday during the Superbike race and I blew a pipe off,” he said.
“It was just over half way round, going through Ramsley, when the bike blew oil from the left hand side. We’ve had problems with the sump – it was too close to the ground so I ended up grinding the bottom out.”
Things improved during Monday’s Superstock race, with Rutter maintaining a good speed throughout until his Ducati mis-fired, forcing him to bring the bike home in eighth place.
But on Wednesday Rutter’s focus turned – for the first time in his illustrious career – to racing an electric bike around the world famous Manx circuit.
And it’s all gone well so far, with Rutter setting a leading lap of 92mph average – some 10mph quicker than his closest rivals.
Top speed
“It all came together when started speaking to the two sponsors – Sedgeway and Motoczysz – so in the end we decided to enter a bike in the TT Zero races,” he said.
“On the electric bike we’re hoping to get 100mph out of it. Going through the Sulby straight you can still get 150-160mph out of them – so they’re pretty fast.
“The only problem is, at the moment, you can’t keep a constant speed going. The top speeds are only hit twice during a lap.
“The bike power delivery is really good though. To be honest I wasn’t too impressed with them when they first came out, but they are very fast.”
But the focus is still very much on the most famous race off all – today’s Senior TT race – but Rutter is fairly realistic about his chances of winning and will be pleased to set his own personal best time on his Ducati today.
“If I can get up to sixth place in the Senior that would be like winning the race for us,” he said. “The Ducatis are very harsh to ride round here – it’s the first time a Ducati has been raced around the Island in a long time. The bike races better around the road tracks.
“I had that big crash at Thruxton before coming over – which was a bit of a shock – but we’re using a completely different bike over here. The BSB bike is still smashed up in the garage!
“If I can get up to 129-130mph on Friday that would be a personal achievement. I’ve already been round just over 128mph.
“On the electric bikes we’ll be looking to break 100mph average – there’s a ten grand prize for the first person to do that.
“All of the lads came over from the BSB race, but the mechanic team didn’t arrive until Tuesday so it’s been a bit hectic, but they’re a specialised team who we’ve flown over specifically for this. We’ll just have to see what happens come the Senior.”
*Michael Rutter missed out on making history - and a £10,000 bonus - by mere fractions of a second.
He rode to victory in the third Zero TT - for electric, zero-emissions machines - at at average speed of 99.6mph over the 37.73 mile Isle of Man course, just missing out on the special prize for the first 100mph electric lap.
He brought the Segway Racing MotoCzysz machine home ahead of last year’s winner and Moto Czysz team-mate Mark Miller from California by 18 seconds.
Rutter, a TT Supersport winner back in 1998, led throughout the race and recorded a top speed of 149.5mph on Sulby Straight.
Rutter and Miller were riding 2010.5 E1pc heavily upgraded from the machine which won last year’s Zero TT at at average speed of 96.820mph .
The new machines have a 60 per cent increase in power to nearly 200hp, more torque, a shorter wheelbase for quicker steering, improved aerodynamics and improved battery capacity.
Earlier in the day the Bridgnorth rider had taken 8th space in the Superstock race aboard his more familiar Ducati.
PICTURED: Journal reporter James Fisher with Bridgnorth racer Michael Rutter at the TT grandstand in Douglas, Isle of Man.