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This years Macau Grand Prix began in good conditions all round and it was John Mcguinness on the Honda TT legends racing superbike who got the hole shot just in front of Michael Rutter, Gary Johnson and Ian Hutchinson. Soon after Gary Johnson hit the front on the Quattro Plant motorsport CBR 1000 Honda Fireblade, Gary lead Michael Rutter, Ian Hutchinson now into third place and John Mcguinness. Positions remained the same as lap 1 ended with the first three all in close proximity.
Lap 2 began with Gary Johnson still leading but Michael Rutter was quickly reeling him in on the SMT racing CBR 1000 Honda Fireblade, Ian Hutchinson was in third place but not far behind whilst John Mcguinness and Jimmy Storrar completed the top five. Johnson’s lead out front was down to under a tenth of a second at the end of lap 2 as Rutter was on a charge going for his ninth Macau Grand prix victory.
Ian Hutchinson remained in third place in front of John Mcguinness, Jimmy Storrar and Jeremy Toye who rounded out the top six. Lee Johnston was going good on the East coast racing CBR 1000 Honda Fireblade occupying a good top 10 position. Onto lap three and Michael Rutter was right with Gary Johnson as the battle for the lead hotted up, Ian Hutchinson was also close to the leaders and soon Rutter was in front of Johnson, soon after Hutchinson was quickly closing in on Johnson for second place.
As lap three ended Michael Rutter held a slight advantage over Gary Johnson with Ian Hutchinson close behind in third place, John Mcguinness remained in fourth place in front of Jimmy Storrar holding fifth place on the DMR racing SR1000 BMW. Ian Hutchinson moved into second place on lap four in front of Gary Johnson, Michael Rutter pulled a gap of around half a second over Ian Hutchinson in second place with Gary Johnson still closely matching Hutchinson and Rutter.
Positions remained the same as lap four ended, lap five began with Michael Rutter still leading but Ian Hutchinson on the Milwaukee Yamaha superbike was quickly reeling in the eight times Macau Grand prix winner. On lap six Ian Hutchinson hit the front, Michael Rutter now back in second place was keeping close proximity with the eight times Isle of Man TT winner.
Gary Johnson still held third place and was close behind Michael Rutter on lap six, John Mcguinness and Jimmy Storrar where battling out for fourth place in front of Jeremy Toye and Martin Jessopp who held sixth and seventh place positions. Lap seven saw Hutchinson begin to pull away from Michael Rutter and the gap was up to over a second, Gary Johnson was only a couple of tenths behind Rutter whilst John Mcguinness still held fourth place but not by much over Jimmy Storrar in fifth place.
Laps eight and nine saw positions throughout the top ten remain the same apart from Martin Jessopp and Jeremy Toye swapping sixth and seventh places in what was proving to be one of the entertaining battles at this years Macau Grand Prix. Ian Hutchinson lead out front on lap nine was over two seconds over Michael Rutter who was now almost a second in front of Gary Johnson on the Quattro Plant motorsport CBR 1000 Honda Fireblade superbike.
So at the end of lap nine Ian Hutchinson lead Michael Rutter by 2.2 seconds, Gary Johnson maintained third place, Jimmy Storrar was now into fourth place in front of John Mcguinness, Jeremy Toye completed the top six on the Penz 13.com BMW superbike. Lap 10 would see Hutchinson’s lead out front remain pretty much the same, Rutter still held second place in front of Johnson, whilst Storrar and Mcguinness where close together in fourth and fifth place positions.
Lap eleven and Ian Hutchinson’s lead out front was down to 1.8 seconds as Michael Rutter was giving it everything on the SMT racing CBR 1000 Honda Fireblade, Gary Johnson still held third place and John Mcguinness was back into fourth place in front of Jimmy Storrar. On lap twelve Ian Hutchinson began to stretch his lead out front again to over two seconds over Michael Rutter, Gary Johnson was now in a comfortable third place whilst John Mcguinness was maintaining fourth place on the Honda TT legends racing superbike.
So onto lap 13 and Ian Hutchinson held a 2.4 second lead over Michael Rutter, soon though the race was red flagged which meant Ian Hutchinson had won this years Macau Grand prix. A truly remarkable performance from a rider who at this years Macau Grand prix was competing in the first race that he has participated in this year. Ian’s win at this years Macau Grand prix is a incredible story, after over three years plagued by a terrible leg injury Ian Hutchinson is back winning a international road race.
A good ride from Michael Rutter coming home in second place, Michael produced another top display of riding at the Macau Grand prix. Gary Johnson achieved his first podium finish at the Macau Grand prix this year on the Quattro Plant motorsport CBR 1000 Honda Fireblade , a great ride from Gary who has this year achieved podium finishes at every road race that he has competed in.
John Mcguinness recorded a fourth place finish on the Honda TT legends racing superbike, this is the best result for John at the Macau Grand prix since 2008, another top ride from the TT legend. Jimmy Storrar produced a eye catching performance to finish a superb fifth on the DMR racing SR1000 BMW, Martin Jessopp finished in sixth place on the Riders motorcycles SR1000 BMW in front of Jeremy Toye competing for the Penz 13.com BMW team.
Current international road racing championship champion Didier Grams achieved a personal best finish of eighth place at this years Macau Grand prix, Lee Johnston achieved a fine ninth place finish on the East coast racing CBR 1000 Honda Fireblade, completing the top 10 was Stephen Thompson competing on a GSX-R 1000 Suzuki for the Cookstown/Burrows engineering team.
Leading newcomer in the race was Dean Harrison who recored a impressive 12th place finish on the RC Express racing Kawasaki by MSS performance superbike. A memorable Macau Grand prix for 2013 which will be remembered for Ian Hutchinson winning on his return to action at a international road race, an amazing and inspiring performance from the road racing legend.
