Rutter ends top TT with fifth in Senior
Michael Rutter ended another superb Isle of Man TT campaign with a solid fifth place finish in the final race of the fortnight, setting a new personal best lap record.
The Bridgnorth-based star clocked an average lap speed of 131.709mph around the 37.73-mile circuit during a shortened Senior TT.
Rutter began the race on his Bathams/SMT superbike until the race was red-flagged following a crash by Ian Hutchinson on lap two.
The 45-year-old decided to use his superstock machine for the restart – and it proved to be a wise decision as he stormed to fifth place after four laps, just 0.644 seconds behind fourth-placed James Hillier after 150.92-miles of hard racing on Friday.
Rutter said: “I was really struggling with the gear change, so the red flag did me a favour as I was able to change bikes and jump on to my regular superstock I use on the short circuits. It was miles better and the bike ran faultlessly.”
Rutter had already won the lightweight race to register his fifth TT win, as well as coming sixth in the first superbike race and fourth in the superstock during a rain-affected fortnight of racing.
