Programme

19th of November (Thursday)

07:30 - 08:30 - Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix - 49th Edition - Practice

15:45 - 16:30 - Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix - 49th Edition - Qualifying


20th of November (Friday)

07:30 - 08:15 - Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix - 49th Edition - Qualifying


21st of November (Saturday)

11:25 - 11:45 - Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix - 49th Edition - Warm Up

15:05 - 16:05 - Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix - 49th Edition - 12 laps

Stuart Easton is gunning for a fantastic five at the 49th Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix this weekend as he bids to defend his crown in South China.

The 32-year-old Hawick rider made a successful return to the infamous road race last year for the first time since 2010 and showed he had lost none of his class at the Armco barrier-lined Guia street circuit, where he powered to his fourth win on the PBM Kawasaki.

Easton had been due to ride a ZX-10 for Paul Bird’s team alongside Yorkshireman Ian Hutchinson at Macau, but the Scot – dropped by Bird for next year’s MCE British Superbike Championship with Ulsterman Glenn Irwin joining Shane Byrne in the Cumbrian’s new-look Be Wiser Ducati team – will instead ride a Yamaha YZF-R1, which is understood to have been leased from Shaun Muir Racing.

The former British Supersport champion will remain in BSB in 2016 after joining American John Hopkins in Tommy Hill’s team to ride Yamaha machinery and will have his first competitive ride on the R1 at Macau, where Easton will ride under Robin Croft’s SMT Racing banner.

It will be the first time that Easton has not raced for Bird at the event, where he won three times on the trot between 2008 and 2010.

The pint-sized racer has been out of action since a crash at Brands Hatch in July left him with a fractured leg and injured knee and admits that he is heading into Thursday’s opening practice at Macau ‘cold’.

However, Easton is hopeful his spell on the sidelines won’t prove too much of a disadvantage when he attempts to find his groove this week on the Yamaha R1.

“I tried to ride [since his crash in July] but I wasn’t able to do so. This will be my first time riding since the injury,” Easton said.

“Hopefully the practice sessions will be enough but this will be one of the drawbacks with the lack of preparedness and time on the bike.

“There isn’t a lot that prepares you for Macau anyway because it’s a lot different from other circuits. I just have to see how the event goes when I get there,” he added.

“I’m completely healed from my injuries. I’ve done physiotherapy and exercises and I’ve done everything I can to get ready for the race.”

Easton took his fourth win last November from Michael Rutter, who holds the record for the most victories at Macau after tasting victory eight times.

He faces formidable opposition in Saturday’s 12-lap race, which is scheduled to take place at 7.05am [GMT].

Bingley Bullet Hutchinson, having his final ride on the PBM Kawasaki after moving to Northern Ireland’s Tyco BMW team for 2016, will be gunning for his second Macau win after taking the honours on the Milwaukee Yamaha in 2013.

Circuit specialist Rutter remains a major threat at Macau, where he will ride for the Penz13.com team on a BMW S1000RR alongside Lincolnshire’s Gary Johnson.

Fermanagh’s Lee Johnston will have his sights set on the podium at least on the East Coast BMW as the 26-year-old attempts to become the first Northern Ireland rider since Phillip McCallen in 1996 to win at Macau.

Honda Racing’s John McGuinness and Conor Cummins, Martin Jessopp on the Riders BMW and Peter Hickman (Briggs Equipment BMW) are also among the leading challengers.

Saintfield’s Davy Morgan will also make the trip with Irish pair Brian McCormack and Michael Sweeney, while Ivan Lintin is a high-profile newcomer (RC Express Kawasaki).

The 32 riders of the Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 49th Edition took up their traditional role to be first on the Guia Circuit at the start of four days of practice, qualifying and racing. It was an intriguing first outing with John McGuinness (Honda) taking a commanding lead at the top of the times from the outset, a position he maintained until the very last lap, by which time he had got well into the high twenties, at 2.29.021.

With his bike safely on stands in the pits, Horst Saiger made a late bid for the top of the leaderboard and almost bumped McGuinness but the clock stopped at 2.29.452.

A lap earlier Michael Rutter had gone quickest in the first and second sectors, a massive advantage in the long and tricky second sector making him a sure-fire bet for the top spot, but Rutter rolled it off and cruised into a stealthy second, his 2.29.142 a long way short of what it might have been and setting up an interesting battle for pole when qualifying begins.

Both of the riders who created sensations here in the past couple of years, Stuart Easton and Ian Hutchinson, took the session steadily, but qualifying is the one that counts.

But bragging rights in the first practice went to Martin Jessopp whose 2.28.970 in the very last seconds of the session served as a clear reminder that he’s one of several riders capable of winning this race on Saturday.

The sweltering heat of a Macau afternoon provided a steamy setting for a dramatic battle for the top of the leaderboard between two of the Guia Circuit’s most experienced riders. Michael Rutter (Penz BMW) and John McGuinness (Honda) traded times and places as a series of other riders tried to get in on the act as well.

Martin Jessopp (Riders Motorcycles BMW) continually challenged the battling duo with fast times in each of the three sectors but never managed to put together the entire lap he needed.

Ian Hutchinson (Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki) closed in on the top of the leaderboard as the session went on but ended the afternoon in fourth place behind Jessopp, and a head of Gary Johnson (Penz13.com BMW Motorrad Motorsport by MGM China)

Horst Saiger (Saiger-Heidger Macau Race Team Kawasaki) was another who launched a sustained attack on the top spot, especially during the second half of a session split in two by a red flag after Russ Mountford (VRS Racing Honda) fell at Faraway.

The strong entry list meant that the rest of the top ten positions were the subject of a continual scrap and the chequered flag dropped on a leaderboard with riders like Lee Johnston (East Coast Construction BMW) and Conor Cummins (Honda Racing) still looking for something further up the ladder, but with another session in the cool of the morning in which to find the lap times they need.

Last year’s winner Stuart Easton (SMT/Booth Yamaha), recovering from injury, is yet to find his full confidence on a bike he has not ridden before.

Martin Jessopp (Riders Motorcycles BMW) took a convincing pole position for the Suncity Group Macau motorcycle Grand Prix – 49th Edition on Saturday when he became the only rider to dip into the 2.24 bracket. He set his time of 2.24.387 midway through the session, and though several riders tried to match it as he circulated around the 6.2km Guia Circuit, only Michael Rutter (Penz 13.com BMW) came close, at 2.25.524.

“I’ve been on the front row a few times at Macau, but never on pole. I couldn’t be happier,” said Jessopp.

Rutter was also the only rider in the 2.25 bracket, but behind him came a whole clutch of contenders filling out the next second.

Leading the way with a superb lap of 2.26.269 was 28-year-old Peter Hickman (Briggs Equipment BMW) on only his second visit to Macau, and challenging the accepted wisdom that it takes a minimum of three years to learn the circuit. Hickman was delighted with his progress after going three seconds quicker than he had on Thursday’s opening qualifying session.

Fourth fastest was 2013 winner Ian Hutchinson (Paul Bird Kawasaki) with a lap of 2.26.791, right in the middle of an evenly-matched group of potential 2015 winners. Honda Racing’s duo of John McGuinness (2.26.810) and Conor Cummins (2.27.030) neatly bracketed Gary Johnson’s 2.26.879 on another of the Penz13.com BMW’s.

With Horst Saiger (Saiger-Heidger Macau Race Team Kawasaki), Stuart Easton (SMT Booth Yamaha) and Lee Johnston (East Coast Construction BMW) rounding out the top ten, the scene is set for a classic race on Saturday afternoon.

When the grid forms up for the start at 15.05 local time there will be four previous winners in the top ten (Rutter, McGuinness, Hutchinson and Easton) and six other riders easily capable of taking victory in the 12-lap Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 49th Edition.

Peter Hickman (Briggs Equipment BMW) took a spectacular win at the 49th Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix in a race that was closer than the final margin of 6.2 seconds would make it appear.

Second place for Martin Jessopp (Riders Motorcycles BMW) was scant reward for his hard work and pace throughout the weekend. Convincingly fastest in qualifying and warm-up, he took a gamble on opening enough of an early advantage on a softer tyre to maintain his lead to the end of 12 laps, but by half-distance the dice had fallen in Hickman’s favour and Jessopp had no reply, though he was far enough ahead of the rest of the field that his second place was never under threat.

After a 12-lap battle, Michael Rutter (Penz13.com BMW) finished third, adding to his vast array of silverware earned at Macau but missing out on increasing his record 8-win tally by just under ten seconds – that was the margin between first and third places on an afternoon when a dozen riders all tried their hardest to get on the podium.

Said Hickman:

“It feels absolutely fantastic! This is only my second time in Macau. I’ve not been doing the road racing scene for very long, but my British Superbike championships have been pretty strong the last couple of years. It’s fantastic to be able to transfer between the two.

“We all knew from the qualifying and practices that Martin [Jessopp] was really strong, and the pace that he had compared to everyone else seemed too much, to be quite honest. I was on the Dunlop tyres and [Jessopp and Rutter] are on different, so we knew that we were going to be strong for the second half of the race, and I figured that Martin was going to pull away in the first five or six laps and then hopefully we’d come back to him. Martin put in such a fast lap. I thought, I just need to be clean, don’t make any mistakes and just be as fast as I can. As soon as I had a chance, I was close enough at Lisboa and I passed him straight away. Fortunately the plan worked.”

Throughout the race Rutter was involved in a ferocious battle with a virtual who’s who of motorcycle road racing, swapping places with Gary Johnson on another of the Team Penzkofer bikes, with 2013 winner Ian Hutchinson (Paul Bird Kawasaki) occasionally intruding in his attempts to get on the third step of the podium. Meanwhile, Honda duo John McGuinness and Conor Cummins held a watching brief that was never more than fractions of a second behind as the race unfolded through an unbroken sequence of dramatic laps.

It was the seasoned McGuinness, the most successful road racer of his generation, who provided the final thrills, swooping past Gary Johnson on the wrong side of the tarmac at the endless left-hander of Dona Maria in a move worthy of a bid for victory, easily the most breathtaking moment in thirty minutes of exceptional racing.

Race Results

Download the full pdf file - HERE

Ivan Lintin and the RC Express Racing team were back in action this week with the Lincolnshire rider making his debut at the Macau Grand Prix and it proved to be a more than positive outcome as he took a strong 18th in Saturday’s ultra-competitive race.

The Bristol-based team were making their return to the Far East venue after their first appearance in 2013 but for Lintin, Thursday morning’s free practice session was the first time he’d seen the 3.8-mile circuit. Adopting a sensible and mature approach, Ivan gently eased his way into the event and with a lap of 2m42.430s, he recorded the 26th fastest time.

The afternoon saw the first qualifying session around the daunting, Armco-lined circuit and it was run in two halves after fellow newcomer Russ Mountford crashed heavily. Although he slipped back to 27th fastest, Ivan lapped four seconds quicker than what he had done in the morning and this was again the case in Friday’s final qualifying session. The session was again stopped due to an accident, this time involving another debutante, Tom McHale, but with a best lap of 2m35.867s, Ivan duly qualified in 25th overall.

The 12-lap race got underway just after 3pm local time with conditions again perfect and a good start immediately saw Ivan advance forward. This set the trend for the entire race and, showing his aptitude and how well he was learning the course, Ivan shaved almost three seconds off his lap times to record a new personal best of 2m33.190s. He continued to climb the leaderboard and was ultimately rewarded with 18th place at the chequered flag, the second newcomer to finish.




Ivan Lintin:

“I’m really happy with how the week progressed and I got faster with every session I went out, continually knocking seconds off my lap times. Although 18th wasn't what I was hoping for, the pace was incredibly quick this year but I chipped away and can be satisfied with my debut. After what happened to Tom and Russ in qualifying I wanted to have a good safe run and head into 2016 in a good position with my aim now to come back to Macau next year with a lot more knowledge.”

Ben Constable, Team Co-owner:

“What a week! The place definitely has its own aura and we were again really proud to be part of the event. I’m also immensely proud of what Ivan and the whole team have done this week. Macau is renowned for being one of the hardest tracks in the world to learn but Ivan never stopped doing exactly that and after qualifying in 25th, he made good strides forward in the race and can be more than happy with 18th. We’re now looking forward to working with Ivan again in 2016 and already building the machines in preparation for next season. We also have some big news to announce in the next few weeks and are ready to take 2016 head on.”



Picture by Stephen Davison – Pacemaker Press International

Paul Bird Motorsport riders Ian Hutchinson and Jimmy Storrar put in solid performances at this morning's Suncity Group Macau Grand Prix to come home in sixth and 12th place respectively.

Former winner Hutchinson was hoping to add to his 2013 success and after qualifying in fourth place, the 11 times TT winner from Bingley in Yorkshire was confident of success aboard the Kawasaki ZX-10R. Meanwhile, Scotsman Storrar, from Perth, was making his debut for the Penrith-based team and qualified in a creditable 11th place.

With humidity high around the 6.12km Circuito Da Guia, Hutchinson got a good start and ran with the leaders for the opening lap before becoming embroiled in a scrap for third place with former winners Michael Rutter and John McGuinness as well as ex PBM team-mate Stuart Easton and Gary Johnson.

As the BMWs of eventual winner Peter Hickman and runner-up Martin Jessopp pulled away at the front, the battle for the final podium place intensified, but Hutchy, who won the Superstock TT earlier this year for Paul Bird's team, couldn't hang on and had to settle for sixth place on the team's Kawasaki swansong.

Storrar rode a solid race throughout on the cusp of the top ten and despite limited riding this year, battled to a determined 12th place at the end of the 12 lap race around the closed roads of the former Portuguese colony on the southern coast of the People's Republic of China near Hong Kong.

Paul Bird, Team Owner:

"After winning last year, we were hoping for a repeat performance but it wasn't to be. I'm pleased that both riders brought the bikes home safely and whilst the results might not have been what we wanted, we will still have a little celebration I'm sure. That race brings to the end our association with Kawasaki which we have had since 2009 so we now look forward to working with Ducati and our valued sponsors from next season onwards and to try to win back the MCE British Superbike Championship as our main priority."

Honda’s road racing riders John McGuinness and Conor Cummins, this morning completed the 12-lap Macau Grand Prix, where the duo crossed the line aboard their Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machines in fourth and seventh places.

The 2015 Suncity Group Macau Grand Prix – 49th Edition got underway at 1505 local time (0705 GMT) with McGuinness starting from fifth and Cummins seventh on the grid. By the second lap the Honda Racing pair were sitting sixth and seventh, and by the seventh rotation had moved back a place each (seventh and eighth).

The closing stages of the race saw the battle in the middle of the pack intensify and McGuinness set about moving his CBR further up the group. On the final lap the Morecambe Missile started to hunt down Gary Johnson, and a perfect move round the outside saw McGuinness claim the fourth place spot.

Meanwhile teammate Cummins, who hasn’t raced at Macau since 2012, enjoyed a good battle with Ian Hutchinson. The Manxman eventually crossed the line seventh. The 2015 Macau Grand Prix was won by Peter Hickman.

John McGuinness:

It was a really fun race and I enjoyed myself out there! I got an average start off the line and it was just wheel-to-wheel for the whole 12-laps. I saw Jessopp got a mega start closely followed by Hickman, but didn’t see where they went after that. I had a great race with Michael, Gary and Hutchy, and then Stuart [Easton] came from nowhere and got stuck into our group. The move on Gary for fourth was brave, but I had confidence in myself and the Fireblade that we’d make it, so thought just go for it! I am slightly disappointed that I wasn’t on the podium, but I’ve had a good year and am happy with fourth, it’s a good way to end the season. Congratulations to all competitors and I’m glad everyone came back safe, as it is really wheel-to-wheel out there. Thanks to all my team and also well done to Conor, we’ve all really enjoyed ourselves.

Conor Cummins:

I finished the race in seventh and I’m happy enough with that result. I was on the back of the podium group and just couldn’t find the space I needed to make a move to progress up. It was wheel-to-wheel and very close out there, but I’m happy to have started seventh and finish seventh. The Fireblade has been faultless and it's been great to ride here again, so a huge thanks to Honda Racing and the team for preparing such an amazing machine for me to ride.

FAIRY TALE WIN FOR HICKY IN MACAU