Magical Macau GP for Amor with 600cc win Falkirk’s Keith Amor wrapped up his highly successful season on Saturday with a superb victory in the 600cc class of the Macau Grand Prix. Riding the AIM Racing R6 Yamaha, the Scottish ace fought his way through the pack after being delayed on the opening lap by a crash and eventually took the win by a convincing 25 seconds to claim his first ever International race win. Opening qualifying on Thursday afternoon saw Keith slot into 2nd place in the 600cc division, and 18th overall, just over a second behind the pace setting German rider Rico Penkofer. However, with cooler conditions in Friday morning’s session, which got underway briskly at 7.30am, almost all of the field went considerably quicker. Sure enough, Keith took over 2 seconds off his time and a best lap of 2m31.969s around the 3.8-mile Guia circuit saw him top the class although it was very close with Penzkofer just 0.081s behind. Unfortunately, the much anticipated dice between the two Yamahas ended on the opening lap of the 15-lap race, held in sweltering conditions, when Penzkofer and Dan Linfoot, third in qualifying, crashed out at Lisboa Corner and Keith got held up considerably in the ensuing melee. Having dropped close to the back of the field, he re-grouped and gradually began to claw back the advantage of new rivals Gerard Muteau and Joao Fernandes. With a series of fastest laps, Keith soon overhauled his fellow 600cc competitors, promptly disappearing into the distance for an excellent win and he was also able to claim an equally excellent 11th place overall. Speaking later after a well earned drink, Keith commented: “I had a feeling it was going to be a bit tricky going in to the first corner so I hung back a wee bit to stay out of trouble and, although I got held up by the crash, it paid dividends. I think I was 4th from last by the time I got going again and my first pit board said ‘P3 -8’ so I knew I had to get my head down. I knew Dan had gone down but not Rico but I started to see bikes in front of me and was able to reel them in and once I’d got the lead of the class I was able to pull away. I’d asked the lads to just show me where I was lying in the 600cc race and and it was a nice feeling seeing my board saying ‘+10, +14, +18’ “It was a shame Rico and Dan went out so early but that’s racing I guess. It was a hard race with the heat being so high but the bike was an absolute missile and the team worked so hard, giving me a great bike. I’d over-revved the engine in practice so I had to make a few changes to the settings on the bike but it all worked perfectly and I really enjoyed myself this week. I’ve got to say a big thank you to Alastair Flanagan for giving me the opportunity this week and to everyone at AIM Racing and Dunlop for all their support.” More, from a press release issued by Gary Johnson’s publicist: Macau GP disappointment for Johnson Gary Johnson’s Macau Grand Prix debut ended in disappointment last Saturday when he was forced to retire from the 15-lap race whilst holding on to a strong 12th place. The Broughton rider was also having his first ride on the BTS Honda but, after a fraught practice, his race came to an end after 11 laps when handling problems meant it wasn’t safe to continue. The week got off to the worst possible start for Gary when suspension problems saw him only complete 4 laps in the opening free practice session but he regrouped successfully for first qualifying and immediately jumped up to 22nd position. In Friday morning’s final 1-hour qualifying session, he knocked almost four seconds off his time to move inside the top 20 and was looking to get inside the top 15 with half of the session remaining. However, the engine then expired on the run down to Lisboa Corner and he was forced to sit out the remaining 25 minutes. Nevertheless, he still finished in 20th overall, good enough for a 5th row start, which was an excellent effort considering the major loss in track time. It also meant he was the leading newcomer in qualifying. Conditions were at their worst for the afternoon race with the riders having to contend with extreme heat, as well as the tough, challenging circuit. Gary made a great start and was running on the fringes of the top 15 in the early stages. With the heat causing havoc with machine reliability, Gary had moved up to an excellent 12th by half race distance but no sooner had he gained the position, he began to drop back as the handling problems of practice returned. As he fought with the handling, the extra effort caused his arms to tense up and with safety paramount, he had little option other than to pull in at the end of the 11th lap. Speaking about his debut at Macau, Gary said: “I could have done without the problems in free practice as learning the course was my main aim early on but we got a lot of help from Javier (Hydrex Honda) and the the suspension was loads better in opening qualifying. My times dropped immediately and I managed to do a 2’33 lap and was looking to get down to the 31’s at least but the engine blew on the way to Lisboa and I had to sit out most of the session. I ended up getting a taxi back and then the team started to work really hard to get the bike ready for the race. “I got a great start and was feeling good, with the circuit coming to me all the time. I was trying to stay focused and smooth but the handling problems returned about half way through the race and I had to ease my pace a bit. It got progressively worse and I was just riding round to be honest as the handling was so bad, it was weaving big time along the straights. I was just going steady but had got up to 12th at half race distance but by that time, my arms had really pumped up due to the extra effort of holding on to the bike so it was safer for everyone that I pulled in. I’ve had a great time though and learnt a lot so, hopefully, I can come back next year and get a good finish.”