Michael Rutter made hay in the glorious sunshine during the opening practice for the Vauxhall International North West 200 today.
The Batham’s Brewery sponsored rider topped the Superbike practice on his S1000RR BMW and finished in the top three in the Superstock and Supersport sessions.
“It is a really nice way to start things off and although we have a few little issues to resolve all the bikes are going really well,” said the 13-time winner.
The day had not started so brightly for the Birmingham rider after a faulty battery saw his Smith’s Triumph fail to start at the beginning of the Supersport session but after a quick change Rutter eventually grabbed second spot on his first competitive outing on the British built bike.
He went on to post a 121.106mph lap on his BMW superbike to pip Alastair Seeley on the Mar-Train Kawasaki to take provisional pole in the big bike class.
“We just put the bike in the lorry after the Oulton Park BSB meeting and used the same settings for here after we changed the gearing. If we had to race tomorrow I would be happy.”
