Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix Warm-Up: Tyres To Play Crucial Role In Race

Saturday, November 20th, 2010

by Barry Russell

Another 7:30 start for the bikes today at Macau, with an intense warm-up session. With times for most riders a second or so down on yesterday’s qualifying session, most attention was being paid to tyre wear for the 40 minute race, which has been moved to the slightly earlier time of 14:55.

Stuart Easton took it easy for seven of his eight laps, but did one rapid lap to take the fastest time up 1.4 seconds on Michael Rutter, with Simon Andrews and Gary Johnson close behind.

Easton and Rutter started with the best base settings on Thursday and have worked consistently to extend their advantage. By contrast, AIM Suzuki’s Gary Johnson, the sensation of last year’s race and my host for this year’s, began with his British Superbike settings, which made it difficult for him to put the fire-spitting GSX-R’s power down and struggled on the first day. However, working closely with highly regarded datalogging engineer Tim Seed, has found a decent compromise which enabled him to qualify 6th, with teammate James Hillier 7th.

After the warm-up Gary explained that the bike was still squatting and wheelying too much, but he clearly believes that his raw ability and the fact that his “red light” comes on later than those of his rivals will enable him to achieve a good result. He is also happy with his Dunlop tyre choice.

Tyres could be the deciding factor today. The higher the track temperature, the more things should go the way of those who, like Rutter and Johnson, are running Dunlops. It is 11:00 now in Macau and the sun has already been out for three hours, so things seem to be moving in six-times winner Rutter’s favour. The Ducati’s smoother power delivery, Rutter’s style and Dunlop tyres could just tilt things in the veteran’s favour and put him into the record books. Whichever way things go for Rutter and Easton, experience, fitness and ability will tell for the next five fastest men. With a long winter break to follow, nobody will be holding back, so stand by for a fantastic race when the red lights go out at 14:55 this afternoon.