Rain forced organisers to postpone yesterday's Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix for only the second time in the race's 36-year history. Englishman Mike Rutter and the rest of the pack will line up for the start of the race this afternoon over a reduced distance of 10 laps - as opposed to 15 laps - starting at 1.50pm.
The ACMC Trophy race was also affected by bad weather and has been re-scheduled to run over 10 laps at 5pm today. The last time bad weather hit the Macau Grand Prix programme was in 1987 when a typhoon forced organisers to run the entire race meeting on the Monday morning.
Organisers decided to postpone the two bike races after a downpour fell just two hours before the scheduled start, leaving pools of water around the 3.8-mile Guia circuit.
With both bike races re-scheduled to today, spectators will be treated to a jam-packed programme that will also include the blue riband Formula Three race and the Guia race for touring cars. The rest of yesterday's support car races, plus final qualifying for the Asian Formula 2000 Challenge, were run without any major hitches.
The postponement of the motorcycle showpiece will not seriously affect the overseas bikers who were due to leave Macau tomorrow anyway. But the extra day meant many riders competing in the ACMC Trophy had to stay over an extra night.
'It should be all right. Maybe I will have to switch on my headlight seeing the race is going to start so late at 5pm. It's better than no racing at all,' said Hong Kong's Cheung Wai-on, who will be competing in the ACMC Trophy as one of the favourites.
