Great Britain’s Michael Rutter took his factory Honda CBR1000RR to the 39th Macau Grand Prix win, leading from start to finish. Fellow Englishmen John McGuinness and Les Shand followed Rutter home at the end of the 15 lap event. The win was Rutter’s sixth, tying him with Ron Haslam atop the all-time win list. American Mark Miller had a strong run through the field, coming from 17th on the grid to finish sixth. Canadian Steve Crevier also made an impressive run, working his way up from 25th on the grid to inside the top 10 before hitting a wall 11 laps into the race. Fortunately Crevier didn’t fall, though the front of his bike was too bent to continue. American John Haner, who had qualified on the second row, ran into trouble and didn’t make the start due to a clutch problem with the Lee’s Cycle/Roadracingworld.com Honda. Haner’s crew was able to get the issue resolved and Haner took to the track two laps down, only to have the engine drop a valve eight laps later, putting him out of the race. The event was overshadowed by the death of French rider Bruno Bonhuil, who was killed in a crash during the morning warm-up. Bonhuil lowsided his Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the high-speed, right hand turn two and struck the wall. The cause of the crash is uncertain, but the track was very dirty and there were reports of oil in the area. Out of respect to Bonhuil, his friends Thomas Hinterreiter, Marcel Kellenberger, Karl Truchsess, Franky Heidger, Stephane Mertens and Pere Riba all pulled in after the warm-up lap and did not compete in the event. 39th Macau Grand Prix, Official Results: 1. Michel Rutter (Hon CBR1000RR), 15 Laps 2. John McGuinness (Hon CBR1000RR), -16.661 seconds 3. Les Shand (Yam YZF-R1), -27.748 seconds 4. Ian Lougher (Hon CBR1000RR), -33.655 seconds 5. Stephen Thompson (Kaw ZX-10R), -45.128 seconds 6. Mark Miller (Suz GSX-R1000), USA, -46.389 seconds 7. Steve Allan (Kaw ZX-6R) 8. Adrian Archibald (Yam YZF-R1) 9. James McBride (Suz GSX-R1000) 10. Ian Hutchinson (Hon CBR600RR) 11. Cameron Donald (Hon CBR600RR) 12. Guy Martin (Suz GSX-R1000) 13. Paul Hunt (Hon CBR1000RR) 14. Tiago Magalhaes (Hon CBR1000RR) 15. Martin Finnegan (Hon CBR1000RR) 16. See Hong Sou (Suz GSX-R1000), 14 Laps 17. Joao Fernandez (Yam YZF-R1) 18. Keith Stewart (Yam YZF-R1) 19. Antoni Moreira (Apr RSV1000) 20. Nuno Silva (Kaw ZX-10R) 21. Jason Broome (Yam YZF-R6) 22. Man Kwong Wong (Suz GSX-R750), 13 Laps 23. Lok Choi Leong (Suz GSX-R1000), 12 Laps 24. Callum Ramsay (Hon CBR600RR), 14 Laps, DNF, Crash 25. Steve Crevier (Hon CBR1000RR), 11 Laps, DNF, Mechanical 26. Pete Jennings (Hon CBR1000RR), 10 Laps, DNF, Mechanical 27. John Haner (Hon CBR1000RR), USA, 8 Laps, DNF, Mechanical 28. Dennis Hobbs (Hon CBR1000RR), 7 laps, DNF, Mechanical 29. Jun Maeda (Hon CBR600RR), 7 Laps, DNF, Mechanical 30. Thomas Hinterreiter (Yam YZF-R1), DNS 31. Marcel Kellenberger (Kaw ZX-10R), DNS 32. Franky Heidger (Suz GSX-R1000), DNS 33. Stephane Mertens (Suz GSX-R1000), DNS 34. Pere Riba (Kaw ZX-6R), DNS 35. Karl Truchsess (Yam YZF-R1), DNS More, from a press release issued by Stobart Honda: SECOND BEST FOR McGUINNESS IN MACAU Stobart Motorsport rider John McGuinness claimed another battling second place following on today’s 39th Hotel Fortuna Macau Grand Prix to make it four runner up placings in the past four years. The 31 year old Morecambe racer had to give second best once again to his Macau nemesis Michael Rutter who claimed a record equalling sixth victory around the Far Eastern circuit. Riding the Honda Fireblade for the Paul Bird team, McGuinness trailed Rutter in the early stages before settling for a safe second place as the race progressed and at the end of the 15 laps, the eight times TT winner was happy enough with his performance. “I should be getting used to finishing second behind Michael now but as soon as he upped the pace, I had no answer. I had a huge moment on some oil and that affected me and from then on, I wasn’t prepared to push it. It’s not the win I had hoped for but second place under the circumstances is good enough” said the 2001 winner. Making his Macau debut, team mate Dennis Hobbs, who had qualified in 19th position was riding brilliantly when he stalled the machine at the ultra-slow Melco Hairpin which relegated him from his top ten placing whilst Manxman Paul Hunt put in a sterling performance to claim 13th at the chequered flag. Team boss Paul Bird commented afterwards: “John seemed to be lacking in confidence so the instructions to him were to go out and have a good, safe race and that’s what he did. He must be getting fed up of following Michael home but there’s no doubting Rutter is the king around here and it’s good to know he’ll be here on our bikes next year and in a way, we’ve won all round. As for Dennis and Paul, they both did us proud and we’ve enjoyed having them with us. Dennis has had a permanent smile on his face since we arrived and Big H keeps thanking me!” Rutter, who signed for the Stobart Motorsport team prior to jetting out to the Far East, equalled fellow Briton Ron Haslam’s tally of six victories and afterwards he said: “It’s great to round off a frustrating season with a win and that’s just the tonic that I need to go into the winter testing schedule with my new team. I’m going to make sure Birdy buys the drinks all night tonight!”