Easton Smashes Qualifying Lap Record in Hunt for Second Successive Victory

Stuart Easton, last year’s winner of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix set a new qualifying lap record to be on provisional pole after the opening timed session for the Far East Classic meeting today. The 26-year-old racer from Hawick, Scotland lapped in two minutes 25.476 seconds to top the leaderboard, over 1.6 seconds quicker than his closest rival, Englishman Michael Rutter, a six-time winner of the event.

Easton, on the Hydrex IGT Honda 1000 he has raced so successfully in Britain all season was ultra-cautious in the morning free practice concerned with the dusty condition of the track, but eight hours later, he was in supreme form and his rivals could not match his pace.

Rutter, the 36-year-old from Leicestershire, was racing a Kawasaki 1000 for the Team of Paris-AXA racing squad for the first time but, despite his lack of practice on the machine, looked confident after being fastest in the morning session.

It was a good day for Kawasaki, with four machines on the top six.

Ian Hutchinson (PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team), the 30-year-old Yorkshireman was third fastest, half a second behind Rutter, and 23-year-old Manxman Conor Cummins on the second Paul Bird Motors machine a quarter of a second slower in fourth place.

Veteran American Mike Barnes, on the third PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team machine was sixth fastest, a fifth of a second behind one of the sensations of the day, Rico Penzkofer on a factory BMW, a machine racing in Macau for the very first time.

Tiago Magalhaes, the 25-year-old Portuguese racer was fastest in the Supersport 600 Class on the AG Racing Suzuki, two seconds quicker than local racer Joao Fernandes (Cubic Macau Racing Team Yamaha).

Amaury Baratin (Team of Paris-AXA Racing Triumph 675), the 36-year-old Frenchman was third best in the Supersport Class.

The final qualifying session for Saturday’s 43rd running of the 15-lap race is tomorrow (Friday).


QUALIFYING 1
 
POS NO CL DRIVER NAT TEAM TIME LAPS GAP KPH
1 1 Stuart EASTON GBR Hydrex IGT Honda 2:25.476 13 151.44
2 3 Michael RUTTER GBR Team of Paris - AXA Racing 2:27.112 15 1.636 149.76
3 8 Ian HUTCHINSON GBR PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team 2:27.574 10 2.098 149.29
4 4 Conor CUMMINS IOM PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team 2:27.745 12 2.269 149.12
5 13 Rico PENZKOFER GER BMW Macau Racing Team 2:28.697 15 3.221 148.16
6 34 Mike BARNES USA PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team 2:28.955 16 3.479 147.91
7 11 Stephen THOMPSON GBR Robinson Concrete Honda 2:29.272 14 3.796 147.59
8 2 John McGUINNESS GBR Hydrex IGT Honda 2:29.457 14 3.981 147.41
9 69 Gary JOHNSON GBR A.I.M. Racing 2:29.778 16 4.302 147.09
10 57 Jeremy TOYE USA Lee's Cycles Racing 2:30.074 12 4.598 146.80
11 10 Mark MILLER USA Celtic Racing 2:30.237 16 4.761 146.64
12 7 Thomas HINTERREITER AUT Yamaha Austria Racing Team 2:30.754 12 5.278 146.14
13 33 Luis CARREIRA POR Benimoto Suzuki Cetelem 2:31.741 15 6.265 145.19
14 6 Gerald MUTEAU FRA Team of Paris - AXA Racing 2:31.864 14 6.388 145.07
15 17 Steve MERCER GBR DMR Racing 2:32.977 15 7.501 144.02
16 9 James McBRIDE GBR PAZZO/EAST Coast Racing 2:33.896 17 8.420 143.16
17 31 Horst SAIGER AUT BMW Macau Racing Team 2:34.332 16 8.856 142.75
18 37 James HILLIER GBR A.I.M. Racing 2:34.340 16 8.864 142.75
19 12 Simon ANDREWS GBR Team of Paris - AXA Racing 2:35.336 14 9.860 141.83
20 36 Michael PEARSON GBR BTS Racing 2:35.754 17 10.278 141.45
21 15 James STORRAR GBR DMR Racing 2:36.929 15 11.453 140.39
22 61 Scott JENSEN USA Moto Garage Racing 2:37.082 15 11.606 140.25
23 66 Mark BUCKLEY GBR Jentin Racing 2:38.139 15 12.663 139.32
24 19 SS Tiago MAGALHAES POR AG Racing 2:38.269 13 12.793 139.20
25 32 SS Joao FERNANDES MAC Cubic Macau Racing Team 2:40.211 14 14.735 137.51
26 5 SS Amaury BARATIN FRA Team of Paris - AXA Racing 2:40.732 16 15.256 137.07
27 35 SS CHEUNG Wai On HKG CHEUNG Wai On 2:41.424 16 15.948 136.48
28 18 SS SOU Sio Hong MAC Sonic Racing Performance 2:43.610 16 18.134 134.66
29 39 SS Jason BROOME HKG Jason BROOME 2:51.040 15 25.564 128.81
30 70 SS IP Weng Keong MAC Sonic Racing Performance 2:51.326 13 25.850 128.59
Qualification Maxima
21 Nuno FARIAS POR MY MOTO 2:43.466 16 17.990 134.78
23 Branko SRDANOV NED Cubic Macau Racing Team 8:19.103 1 5:53.627 44.14