Career
Rutter raced trials in his teens and began circuit racing in 1989. His first full season in the British Superbike Championship was 1993; he finished 8th overall and also made his first four World Superbike Championship starts that year. He finished in the overall BSB top six every year from 1994 to 1998, coming in third overall in 1997. His win at Donington Park in the wet in 1995 broke the duopoly of Steve Hislop and Jamie Whitham. His first World Superbike podium came at the same circuit in 1997. He won at Oulton Park and Donington in 1998. Tellingly, each of these standout results was achieved in wet conditions.
He spent 1999 in the 500cc World Championship, scoring occasional points but not being among the front runners. He returned to the domestic series for 2000 on a Ray Stringer private Yamaha. Again, a wet race provided his only victory. Still, his road racing results dwarfed what he managed on track.
After a solid 2001, Rutter came second to Steve Hislop in 2002 with the renegade Ducati team, including eight wins and five poles. He was third for the team in 2003, this time dwarfed by Shane Byrne.
He spent 2004 and 2005 with the factory Honda team. In 2004 he was never off the front row and took 11 podiums in the first 12 races, but a midseason run of 6 non-podiums gave Suzuki's John Reynolds the title. In 2005 Honda team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari had the better of Rutter, who came 3rd overall and lost the ride for 2006.
For 2006 he rejoined his former Monstermob boss Paul Bird, now running semi-works Hondas with Eddie Stobart funding. He finished third first time out, but only repeated this feat once more throughout the season, finishing seventh overall and losing the ride after the 2006 season. For 2007, Rutter was the sole rider for the MSS Discovery Kawasaki squad, which moved up from British Supersport to contest British Superbikes for the second time (the first was with Julien da Costa in 2005). This was his least successful BSB season ever, as the Kawasaki was not a competitive bike.
Michael Rutter competed in the 2008 British Superbike Championship on a "North West 200" branded Ducati SBK RS08, a team entered to promote this famed road racing event in Ireland. He finished 6th overall with a single win, and made his 300th BSB start at the final meeting of the year.
For 2009 it has been announced that Rutter will ride for Rob Mac Racing Yamaha, again sporting North West 200 colours. This means he will form a partnership with Chris Walker, making the team amongst the most experienced in he paddock. Walker, however, rode under the blue Henderson Insurance banner. The decision from NW200 to back the team means that for the first time since 1995 no front running Duactis ran in BSB. The partnership was comparatively short-lived with Rutter leaving the team in May 2009. Rutter raced various machines for the rest of the season, with little success.
For 2010 Rutter took his Bathams Brewery sponsorship to the Ridersmotorcycles.com team, partnering Martin Jessopp on their Ducatis. He scored the team's first win at Knockhill, in wet conditions. He also led race two at Snetterton, but was stopped by a broken gear lever. He took pole at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit, and was leading race one when it was stopped for rain, ultimately coming second to Alastair Seeley.
Rutter is also a very accomplished road racing rider, having won 12 times at the North West 200 festival in Northern Ireland. He has one win and eight further podium finishes at the Isle of Man TT festival. He holds the record of most wins at the Macau Grand Prix.
On 4th June 2012 Michael Rutter became the first person to lap the Isle of Man Mountain Course at over 100MPH on an electric motorcycle. His lap time was 102.50MPH (22:05.05) however he did not win the £10,000 prize for this feat as the time was set in a practice session and not in a race. In the previous year's TT Zero race he had narrowly missed out on the prize by setting a lap time of 99.604MPH. On 6th June Michael Rutter did break the 100MPH barrier in the TT Zero race winning with a lap speed of 104.056 MPH (21:45.33).
Read more about this topic: Michael Rutter (motorcycle Racer)
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