Rutter wins TT Zero as Mugen speed traps faster than a Supersport!
It's ANOTHER new lap record for Mugen in the TT Zero... but it is the top speed that has everyone talking!
Michael Rutter succeeded in the battle of the Isle of Man TT stalwarts by claiming victory in the TT Zero race over his Mugen team-mate John McGuinness, setting another impressive lap record.
Though schedule changes - which meant the race took place several hours later in cooler conditions compared with 2018 - threatened to scupper Mugen's hopes of breaking the 121.824mph lap record, Rutter got around in a 121.91mph average aboard the Mugen Shinden Hachi.
Significantly, however, in a straight line Rutter could show exactly how far all-electric technology has come after coming through the Sulby speed traps at 176mph, which is faster than the Supersport bikes from earlier in the day.
A measure of the sheer gains made over a decade when the TT Zero class was first introduced - to much debate - Mugen's performance is likely to be viewed as one of the electric motorsport movements most important breakthroughs...
Nobody would have predicted it 10 years ago, but yesterday at 176mph TT Zero were officially faster through Sulby speed trap than the Supersports earlier in the day. #nolongerajoke
— MUGENTT (@MUGENSHINDENTT) June 7, 2019
With McGuinness in second, taking his 47th career TT podium, Ian Lougher rounded out the rostrum on the Team Mirai with ILR Idaten X RE, almost three-and-a-half minutes behind winner Rutter.
An emotional stand-in by Davey Todd, filling in for team-mate Daley Mathison who died in Monday’s Superbike TT, ended in retirement before reaching the Bungalow on the University of Nottingham-run bike.
Matthew Rees secured fourth place for University of Bath ahead of Allan Venter on the Brunel University’s entry, as Mike Norbury took sixth place on the leading Duffy Motorsport SR bike as team-mate Shaun Anderson completed the finishers.
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