SCOTLAND'S Steve Hislop notched his third Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix title as he joined an elite pair of riders with a penchant for winning in a tragedy-marred 28th edition of the race yesterday.
Hislop showed his authority by winning the first leg over 15 laps and then snatching third place in an accident-plagued second leg, shortened to just five laps, after three serious accidents, one of which claimed the life of Japanese rider Katsuhiro Tottiori and another leaving Motorsport Proms teammate Ken Watson in satisfactory condition.
Race organisers decided to end the second leg after Briton Dave Leach came to grief near Reservoir Bend after five laps.
The shortened race worked in favour of Hislop, who gained a slim victory from Wigan-based Liverpudlian Mike Edwards, who was threatening to make a real race of it, and Ulsterman Philip McCallen, who sneaked home in third place overall.
Hislop won the race with 2.97 seconds to spare on aggregate from Edwards with McCallen a distant third, a further 33.64 seconds behind.
The incidents might have taken some of the gloss away from Hislop's hardest-fought victory in the Portuguese enclave but it did not stop the Scotsman from entering the record books as one of only three riders to have won the Macau Grand Prix three times.