Veteran racer Michael Rutter declared himself satisfied with his first two nights of practice at the Isle of Man TT races and says it's now down to him to find more speed from his Bathams BMW.
The Midlands rider spent most of the first two laps in close company with Conor Cummins, lapping just a tenth quicker than the Manxman on his Superbike at 128.740mph, but expressed his admiration for how the Honda man was riding.
"The bike's working as well as the Honda did last year, in terms of both speed and handling, so I'm really happy with how it's performed so far. To lap at close to 129mph on just the second night is very pleasing and now it's down to me to work on my riding to find those extra seconds to get into the 130s and, hopefully, 131s. I find it hard with the sun in the evening as not being able to see where you're going properly makes me neervous," said Rutter, speaking to bikesportnews.com in the TT paddock.
"I was hoping to get clear track for the first two laps so when Conor came by me early on the lap I was a bit disappointed but I tucked in and definitely learned quite a bit from him. He was pretty spectacular through the Bottom of Barregarrow and one of the places where he was incredibly commited was up on the Verandah, which was impressive given what happened to him there in 2010. I couldn't live with him through there and there were some points on the course where I thought I was quick until I saw what Conor was doing. At the same time, there were points where I thought he'd be strong yet I was faster so if I can put the two together, I should find some good time."
Fifth quickest on the Superbike, Rutter also placed third on the Supersport leaderboard with a lap of 123.402mph on the Smiths Triumph although changes will now take place with the 675 Daytona machine as he's switching from Pirellis to Dunlops. He also admitted resurfacing to some parts of the course still needs adjusting to properly.
"I was happy with the lap on the Triumph but a 123mph lap is obviously some distance off the pace we'll be going in the race so I need to find a fair bit more speed if I'm going to be competitive. The bike worked well on Pirellis so I'm hoping it does the same on the Dunlops, which I've got for the Superbike and Superstock. They've improved some parts of the circuit but messed up others so I've still got to get them worked out properly but we've only had two nights of practice so far so there's plenty of time."
