British Superbike regular Stuart Easton has taken his debut Macau GP win this morning, preventing Michael Rutter from achieving a record seventh win.
Easton got away with Rutter's NW200 Ducati and Cameron Donald on the Relentless Suzuki in the early stages but the Aussie's GSX-R1000 gave up the ghost on lap five leaving the Superbike pair to do battle. Easton then managed to pull a three-second lead over the course of 10 laps, which Rutter managed to peg back to one second by the closing stages, but it wasn't enough and Easton crossed the line 2.7s in front.
TT hero John McGuinness was a distant third while relative unknown Stephen Thompson finshed ahead of Ian Hutchinson on the Aviva Kawasaki. Steve Mercer was 12th in his first Macau outing while poleman Conor Cummins retired on lap seven and Gary Johnson did the same four laps later.
Scotland's Ketih Amor took victory in the Supersport class after debutant Dan Linfoot was eliminated on the first lap. Amor was in a class of his own, finishing 11th overall and more than half a minute in front of the next placed 600.
Result:
1. Stuart Easton GBR Doosan Honda 15 laps
2. Michael Rutter GBR Discover Ireland NW200 Ducati +2.722secs
3. John McGuinness GBR Ventaxia VK Honda 31.711secs
4. Luis Carreira POR Benimoto Suzuki Yoshimura +39.962secs
5. Michael Barnes USA Ventaxia VK Honda 39.982secs
6. Stephen Thompson GBR Sloan Developments +45.910secs
7. Ian Hutchinson GBR Aviva Kawasaki +49.067secs
8. Jeremy Toye USA Corona Extra Honda Racing +1min 16.206secs
9. Marc Fissettee BEL Ixo-Churrascao Racing +1min 29.503secs
10. Rui Reigoto POR Vodafone Kawasaki KMS +1min 34.367secs
11. Keith Amor GBR AIM Racing +1min 39.608secs SSP
12. Steve Mercer GBR DMR Racing +2mins 04.529secs
13. Gerald Muteau FRA Halfen Team of Paris +2mins 04.846secs SSP
14. Fabrice Miguet FRA Halfen Team of Paris +2mins 21.831secs
15. Amaury Baratin FRA Halfen Team of Paris +1 lap
16. Scott Jensen USA Moto Garage Racing +1 lap
17. Joao Fernandes MAC Macau Racing Team +1 lap SSP
18. Cheung Wai On HKG Cheung Wai On +1 lap SSP
19. Sou Sio Hong MAC Sou Sio Hong +1 lap
20. Leong Iok Choi MAC Leong Iok Choi +2 laps
