North West 200 drop Michael Rutter

Michael Rutter has been pushed into the BSB shadows after being ditched by his 2008 team, North West 200 Ducati.

Rutter looked to be the favourite to continue his partnership with the North West 200 team that’ll be run by Alistair Kennedy next season.

But instead he’s been pushed out of favour to make way for the team to secure factory-backing for next season which is dependent on running an up and coming young rider.

Rutter told MCN: “ Alistair’s offered me more money than I’d got racing for him in BSB [to take a management role and race on the roads in 2009] but it’s not about he cash.

“I’m not ready to quit BSB yet and I’m looking into setting up my own team.”

For the full story grab a copy of this week’s MCN out on November 26.