NEWS

MACAU GP: EASTON WINS IN LAST-LAP THRILLER

21/11/2009

Easton romped away in the first half, but Cummins reeled him in

By David Miller

Hydrex Honda's Stuart Easton has taken his second victory in a row at the Macau Grand Prix after a last-lap thriller as Paul Bird Kawasaki's Connor Cummins chased down a six-second gap to catch the Scotsman with two laps to go.

Easton had romped away from the field in the first half of the race, lapping a second faster than everyone else with Cummins and the second PDM Kawasaki of Mike Barnes in third. The third PBM Kawasaki of Ian Hutchinson was fourth with Rico Penzkofer, on the BMW, in fifth.

As it settled down, only Cummins had anything like Easton's pace in the first six laps but as Barnes slid down the field, Macau rookie Simon Andrews started his climb up the field from 12th, going past team-mate Michael Rutter on lap five to take seventh.

Lap six saw Easton's lead at 6.1s but Cummins then began to reel him in as it looked like the Honda's Pirelli tyres had done the best of their work and by lap eight, Manxman Cummins had taken a second out of Easton.

Grimsby's Gary Johnson had pulled himself onto the back of Hutchinson and went past for third as Andrews went past Barnes for sixth pace. Lap nine saw Easton's lead slashed to 3.6s and two laps later, it had been halved again as Cummins could see the Honda along the straight.

On lap 13, the gap was just 0.4s as Cummins was able to lap a full second quicker than Easton and the Kawasaki man slid past on the penultimate lap. Easton, however, wasn't to be denied, going back past the Kawasaki on the final lap to cross the line 0.381s in front.

Hutchinson took the final podium place with Johnson in fourth and Penzkofer in fifth. Rutter managed to get back past Andrews to take sixth but it was an incredible performance from Andrews to get seventh at a track he had not seen before Thursday morning.

Ireland Stephen Thompson took the final top ten position with James McBride 14th, James Hillier 16th, Mark Buckley 17th and Jimmy Storrar 18th. John McGuinness, Michael Pearson and Steve Mercer retired.

Macau GP - conditions dry

1 1 Stuart EASTON GBR Hydrex IGT Honda 36:50.910 15 149.47 2:25.170
2 4 Conor CUMMINS IOM PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team 36:51.291 15 0.381 149.45 2:26.251
3 8 Ian HUTCHINSON GBR PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team 37:00.702 15 9.792 148.81 2:26.803
4 69 Gary JOHNSON GBR A.I.M. Racing 37:06.508 15 15.598 148.43 2:26.081
5 13 Rico PENZKOFER GER BMW Macau Racing Team 37:15.519 15 24.609 147.83 2:27.208
6 3 Michael RUTTER GBR Team of Paris - AXA Racing 37:22.761 15 31.851 147.35 2:27.235
7 12 Simon ANDREWS GBR Team of Paris - AXA Racing 37:25.237 15 34.327 147.19 2:28.352
8 33 Luis CARREIRA POR Benimoto Suzuki Cetelem 37:26.117 15 35.207 147.13 2:28.129
9 57 Jeremy TOYE USA Lee's Cycles Racing 37:26.403 15 35.493 147.11 2:27.507
10 11 Stephen THOMPSON GBR Robinson Concrete Honda 37:34.767 15 43.857 146.56 2:28.569
11 6 Gerald MUTEAU FRA Team of Paris - AXA Racing 37:37.449 15 46.539 146.39 2:28.317
12 10 Mark MILLER USA Celtic Racing 37:42.208 15 51.298 146.08 2:28.223
13 34 Mike BARNES USA PBM Kawasaki WSBK Team 38:09.510 15 1:18.600 144.34 2:29.141
14 9 James McBRIDE GBR PAZZO/EAST Coast Racing 38:24.254 15 1:33.344 143.42 2:31.960
15 31 Horst SAIGER AUT BMW Macau Racing Team 38:25.379 15 1:34.469 143.35 2:31.058
16 37 James HILLIER GBR A.I.M. Racing 38:28.566 15 1:37.656 143.15 2:31.978
17 66 Mark BUCKLEY GBR Jentin Racing 38:31.525 15 1:40.615 142.97 2:31.804
18 15 James STORRAR GBR DMR Racing 38:32.104 15 1:41.194 142.93 2:32.013
19 5 SS Amaury BARATIN FRA Team of Paris - AXA Racing 36:52.569 14 1 LAP 139.40 2:35.584
20 35 SS CHEUNG Wai On HKG CHEUNG Wai On 36:55.852 14 1 LAP 139.20 2:36.267
21 32 SS Joao FERNANDES MAC Joao FERNANDES 37:19.683 14 1 LAP 137.71 2:36.748
22 18 SS SOU Sio Hong MAC Sonic Racing Performance 38:54.896 14 1 LAP 132.10 2:44.520
23 39 SS Jason BROOME HKG Jason BROOME 37:20.516 13 2 LAPS 127.83 2:48.900
24 19 SS Tiago MAGALHAES POR AG Racing 37:41.159 13 2 LAPS 126.66 2:39.152
25 70 SS IP Weng Keong MAC Sonic Racing Performance 39:07.582 12 3 LAPS 112.62 2:49.530
NOT CLASSIFIED
2 John McGUINNESS GBR Hydrex IGT Honda 18:10.518 7 D.N.F. 141.42 2:30.317
7 Thomas HINTERREITER AUT Yamaha Austria Racing Team 10:34.473 4 D.N.F. 138.90 2:31.525
36 Michael PEARSON GBR BTS Racing 8:26.925 3 D.N.F. 130.38 2:38.025
17 Steve MERCER GBR DMR Racing 5:08.914 2 D.N.F. 142.64 2:31.087
FASTEST LAP
1 Stuart EASTON Hydrex IGT Honda 2:25.170 5 151.76kph 94.30mph