Macau madness

Near neighbour to us (He's in Yeovil) Martin Jessopp claimed the runners-up spot in today's Macau Grand Prix, completing a fantastic one-two for the Riders Ducati team. But bloody hell - if this is what it takes to come second...well, we never had it. Martin, you're a legend.


Jessopp's team mate Michael Rutter (below, but not at Macau) won the race for Riders and Ducati, claiming a seventh victory around the famous Guia street circuit. Rutter made history by beating Ron Haslam's tally of six wins, but Jessopp was only 4.772secs behind in second, beating several top road riders including Ian Hutchinson in third and John McGuinness in sixth.

British Superbike racer Jessopp was delighted to get his Macau GP chance and paid tribute to British Superbike Championship veteran Rutter: “The last two years I’ve been learning from Michael. I hit the wall pretty hard on lap 1, so I settled down after that. I think Michael was playing with us for the first couple of laps.”

Rutter said of his team mate: “Martin has been there all year – he’s come along and learned a lot. It’s been a brilliant season.”

Sadly this might be the last Macau bike GP: long-time bike race co-ordinator Mike Trimby has said this is his last, and the organising committee will now think about whether the two-wheeled part of the festival will continue. Our hope is when they see this photo and the noise it's generated they'll realise it's a must-do.