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Michael Rutter gave the ISILON
MSS Discovery Kawasaki team something to smile about at Donington
Park today with a pair of top ten finishes aboard his Ninja ZX-10R.
The 34-year-old's 9th and 8th places in the two Bennetts British
Superbike races did something to erase the pain of his young
team-mate's bad-luck in the MAXXIS British Supersport race. 18-year-old
James Webb ended up in the gravel in the first turn after a collision
with another rider, continuing the Kent rider's poor run of luck
on race-day after an impressive qualifying performance.
Michael Rutter, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R (9th and 8th)
"Race one was a little disappointing as we had a good
start but then had a tyre degradation issue after just six laps.
The second race was better as I was able to battle harder throughout
the whole race and ended up setting my fastest lap on the last
lap. The chassis improvements have been a big help this weekend
but I think that our next step is to integrate some electronics
and traction control system to the ZX-10R as most of our competitors
run something like this on their bikes."
James Webb , Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R (DNF)
"I'm so upset at what happened. All weekend I've been
running up at the front and my time on race tyres has been good,
but then my race is run after just a few yards. On the run into
Redgate a rider moved over on me and I had to apply the brakes,
then they touched my bars and down I went. I'm gutted for the
team, but I must bounce back from this for Brands."
Jack Valentine, Race Team Manager
"We leave Donington Park frustrated today, but still
in an up-beat mood. James' crash was such a disappointment for
us, but it wasn't his fault and the positive is that he was running
at the front all weekend. Apart from Michael's problem in the
first race, we could see him actually be able to race and fight
with some people in race two. He was pushed onto the grass with
Karl Harris and normally this would have put him into no-man's-land,
but today he was able to fight back and was able to record his
fastest lap on the last lap of the race."
Nick Morgan, Team Owner
"We're all very upset about what happened to James today
- the poor lad was almost in tears when he came into the garage.
We have to look at the positives as he was up there all weekend
and had great race-pace: it's just a shame that through no fault
of his own the bike ended up on its roof in the gravel trap.
Today we saw Michael able to battle people again - which is good!
The bike is improving, but I think we can see that we need some
sort of electronics and traction control system to improve further.
We'll try and get a system fitted for him by Brands Hatch."
Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Race 1 - Results
1 Leon Haslam
2 Tom Sykes
3 Shane Byrne
4 Gregorio Lavilla
5 Jonathan Rea
...
9 Michael Rutter, ISILON MSS Discovery Kawasaki
Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Race 2 - Results
1 Leon Haslam
2 Tom Sykes
3 Ryuichi Kiyonari
4 Chris Walker
5 Gregorio Lavilla
...
8 Michael Rutter, ISILON MSS Discovery Kawasaki
Maxxis British Supersport Championship
Race Results
1 Michael Laverty
2 Ian Lowry
3 Billy McConnell
4 John McGuinness
5 Aaron Walker
...
DNF James Webb , ISILON MSS Discovery Kawasaki |