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TT 2017: Michael Rutter’s Diary - part six

Friday was a long day waiting for the weather to improve before we got going and we’d done a lot of work on the Superbike preparing for the Senior, having engines in and out and all sorts. We ended up putting a standard road engine into the Superbike but on the first lap, we had an electrical problem and the quickshifter stopped working.

I was having to change gear manually and the whole process upset the handling of the bike so I was just riding round in 12th waiting for the first pit stop to see if we could change anything. But then I saw Hutchy sprawled on the track coming out of the 27th Milestone so knew the race would be red flagged as the fencing had been dragged onto the track and the only real place for the helicopter to land was on the track.

I got stopped at the Creg and straight away phoned back to the team at the paddock and told them to get my Superstock bike ready for the re-start. The mechanics did a great job in getting the bike through scrutineering and ready for the race so I was ready for another go. It was the best the bike had handle all fortnight while the track was in good condition too with some decent amount of rubber having been laid down in the first couple of laps.

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I had no trouble at all in the race and just missed out on fourth by 0.6s! The last lap was my best ever lap of the TT Course at 131.7mph which wasn’t bad going at all on a Stocker especially as I was having to use fifth gear down past the Highlander, along the Sulby Straight and up the Mountain Mile.

I wished I’d have known it was so close for fourth but the week has been really good for both the team and myself. Obviously winning the Lightweight was the highlight and although I probably should have been on the podium in the Superstock race as well, I’ve got to be happy with first, fourth, fifth and sixth.

It was pretty close in all of the races and I can’t complain about anything so a big thanks to the whole Bathams/SMT Racing team whilst I hope you’ve all enjoyed the TT2017 diaries.

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