Veteran racer Michael Rutter was delighted with his fifth place finish in Saturday's Superbike TT having used a standard engine in his Bathams BMW all week.

Despite being up against bikes of a much higher state of tune, the 42-year old, eighth at the end of the first lap, was up to fourth by the time of the second pit stop and although a flying Bruce Anstey pushed him back to fifth on the sixth and last lap, a final lap in excess of 130mph ensured the 'Blade'. And all achieved with a suspension problem that affected him from half race distance onwards and almost led to him retiring.

"To finish fifth with a standard engine up against factory riders and factory teams is a great result for myself and the team," said Rutter, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

"We've used a standard engine all week and it never missed a beat but I think something must have happened to the suspension mid-race as the bike became a real handful. I had to really work hard just to hold on to the bike and although it was ok over the Mountain, in a straight line and through all the high speed stuff it was extremely difficult.

"If I'd have been riding round on my own, I would seriously have considered pulling but I had William (Dunlop) right in front of me and it gave me something to aim at. I just buried my head under the screen and tagged on to him so it all worked out well in the end. Our pit stops were some of the fastest so it's a great start to the week."