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TT 2016: Michael Rutter’s Diary - episode four

I was up at the paddock first thing on Monday as it was a busy day with two races in store, the Supersport and then Superstock. There was a big build up for the Supersport race and the Bathams/SMT Racing team said to rev the bike as hard as I could to get a good result, which I did, but unfortunately, I only got as far as Ballacraine on the first lap of the Supersport race as the head gasket went…

 
It was obviously disappointing for all of us so I rode the bike back to the pits and got my head down to get a bit of sleep before the Superstock race. I was disappointed with my first lap though and when I saw ‘P7’ on one of my signals, I started to think it just wasn’t working for me. When Dean Harrison came by me though it work me up as we had a bit of a moment as he hit me when he came up the inside.

It's so easy done and we've nearly all done it. You run in there so quick and for so long and he was obviously keen to get by me as he was running in a podium position. He was trying to get up to second but it was just one of those things and no problem. I thought I was down though but luckily it just came back to me although I did wonder what had happened! We both stayed on and both got a result though so no harm done.
 
From there on in I had a good, strong ride and I’m glad I pulled my finger out to pull myself up to fourth. I was dead happy with the Superstock result and also with my fastest ever TT lap. Having Dean come by me helped but the bike was working really well and we had to slow down for the yellow flags at the end of Cronk y Voddy through to the 11th so lost a bit of time there but you always have a problem at one part of the track.
 
I then had to go back out on the Supertwin bike, which went well too. We also did two pit lane runs just to make sure the speed limiter was working ok. After that, I got changed and headed down to the Villa Marina for the first prize giving evening so it was a really busy day.
 
On Tuesday morning, it was back up to the paddock to have a chat with the team and sort out what we were going to do with the 600 ready for Wednesday's race. I also did some work for Performance Bikes magazine, testing one of the road going versions of the RCV that Bruce has been riding. We did loads of photos around Ballaugh and the Sulby Straight and a few other places and then it was back to the Governor's House for 6.30pm to watch the Red Arrows - then it was home, a bit of TV and then ready for Wednesday's races.

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