Michael Rutter won his first Classic TT race on Monday afternoon when he took victory on the Ripley Land Honda in the 350cc Okells Classic TT from Phil McGurk and Doug Snow. The BSB veteran had been locked in battle with Dan Cooper for much of the race and the latter led by just over a second going into the final lap before retiring at Ballacraine.
“I knew the race was close but just kept my head down,” said Rutter. “I was experiencing a misfire now and again and thought it was going to stop on the final lap but fair play, it kept going. It’s a lovely bike to ride but it’s physically hard work and although I initially wanted the race to be the full four laps, I was glad it was only three!”
“You’ve got to keep these bikes going and if you can do that, you won’t be far away so I kept the revs down and concentrated as much as possible. It’s a long way round and it’s fantastic to win both for myself and the whole team. You can never complain when you’re in the number one spot around the Mountain Course.”
With the race finally getting underway at 2pm, almost four hours later than scheduled due to a problem with the radio communication system, and cut to three laps, it was Rutter who led at Glen Helen on the opening lap by a healthy 4.8s from Cooper’s Molnar Manx Norton. William Dunlop was in third as pre-race favourite Lee Johnston found himself down in eighth on the Black Eagle MV Agusta, some ten seconds behind Rutter.
By Ramsey, Rutter still led but Cooper had cut the gap to 2.5s with Dunlop out of the race, the Davies Motorsport rider having retired at Parliament Square. Jamie Coward was up into third ahead of Swallow and Keith Amor but last year’s race winner Johnston was now out of the race stopping at Ballaugh Bridge. Danny Webb, seventh at Glen Helen, was another high profile casualty stopping at Gwen’s.
With an opening lap of 100.988mph, Rutter’s lead over Cooper was now only 1.8s with Swallow now up to third ahead of Amor and McGurk as Coward broke down at the Les Graham Memorial. However, Swallow was given a 30s penalty for what was simply described as a technical infringement, which saw him slip back behind Amor. Meanwhile, Olie Linsdell crashed out at Signpost without injury as Alex Sinclair, fifth at the Bungalow, retired at the pits.
Rutter was pressing on at the head of the field though and he needed to as Cooper was continuing to eat into his advantage, the gap now down to just 0.8s. Swallow had regained third from Amor with McGurk still in fifth but by Ballaugh, it was all change at the front as Cooper turned his deficit to Rutter into a 1.7s advantage.
The former British 125cc Champion added another second to his lead as they swept through Ramsey but Rutter had reduced that by two seconds by the time they reached the Bungalow. Cooper immediately responded and with a second lap of 101.613mph, the gap was back up to 1.3s with just one more circuit of the Mountain Course remaining.
Swallow was still in third but Amor was now also out, the Scots ace coming to a halt at Quarry Bends and the drama didn’t end there as race leader Cooper’s excellent ride came to an end at Ballacraine.
That paved the way for Rutter to have a clear run to the line and, with the fastest lap of the race at 102.356mph, he duly came home for his first Classic TT win and his fifth around the Mountain Course in total after his Junior and TT Zero victories.
In a race of high attrition, Swallow went out on the final lap and that allowed McGurk to take second, over two minutes behind Rutter, with Doug Snow moving up to third as Nigel Moore also went out in the closing stages. David Madsen-Mygdal, TT ace James Hillier and Mark Herbertson completed the top six.
