Rutter to return with NW200 Ducatis
Added on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Rutter to return with NW200 Ducatis
Michael Rutter will be making a yet another return to the British Superbike Championship at Silverstone next week when he races with last year’s North West 200 Ducati’s.
Rutter, who raced with NW 200 Ducati last season, will ride on the fifth different manufacturer’s bike of the season at Silverstone after being sacked by NW200 Yamaha after the opening two of the season. Since then, Rutter has been drafted in as a stand-in rider for Worx Crescent Suzuki, SMT Honda and MSS Colchester Kawasaki.
The veteran rider missed the weekend’s round at Croftbut has now been able to broker a deal with Alistair Kennedy, the owner of the two redundant Ducati’s from 2007, and put the finance in place to run the bikes for the final two rounds of the season.
“I haven’t been to the last two rounds and have been forced to watch it on TV and I have missed being out there,” Rutter told the BSB website.” I have had a few offers but for one reason or another they haven’t worked out and I was desperate to get back out there for the final two rounds.
“Alistair Kennedy still had our two Ducatis from last season and we spoke several times and decided if we could get the sponsorship together that we would get them back out again for the final rounds. I have been able to secure backing from some local sponsors to me including Bathams, Blackhorse Finance and Shoei helmets and then we hit the target to be able to come back.
“It’s definitely good to be bringing Ducati back to the championship; my dad won with Ducati and I have won several races with them, including on this bike last year at Mallory Park so we know we should be competitive. We have a completely new set-up within the team; ‘Desmo’ Dave Allenby will be with me who used to work with GSE Racing and Neill Mansell from Laverty’s side of the team from last year is coming back.
“I had to ride a Ducati this year as then I will have ridden everything! We just missed the podium at Silverstone last season and I want to come back and make an impression as soon as I can.”
