Martin prepares for Centenary TT
Guy Martin scored points in his first race outing on the Hydrex Honda he will ride in the Pokerstars Supersport Race at the Isle of Man TT.
He put the 600cc machine through its paces at the latest round of the British Supersport Championship, held at Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday.
The Kirmington rider had only managed a handful of pre-season test laps on the bike, but needed to have a full race under his belt with the Centenary TT just days away.
And it proved a success – a fine ride to 11th netted Guy, who has lapped the TT Mountain Course in 127.678mph, five championship points.
Despite the result, it was a far from straightforward meeting.
In first qualifying the Hydrex team were happy with a 14th place, but in the second and final qualifying session Guy was unable to go quicker. A mysterious lack of power saw him slip back to 18th on the grid.
The team worked until midnight on Saturday stripping and rebuilding the engine in an effort to move Guy forward.
Things went from bad to worse when Guy made a poor start in the 16-lap race and he found himself way down the order in 21st place.
However, in familiar style, he got his head down and started charging through the pack. Putting in lap times similar to those by riders running in the top six, he passed numerous riders during the race and had hauled himself up to 11th at the chequered flag, just half a second adrift of ninth place.
Guy said:
‘After making a complete hash of the start, 11th isn’t a bad result and,given one more lap, I reckon I could have got ninth. I must have been half asleep when the light went out so I made hard work for myself, but I got stuck in and passed plenty of riders during the race and none of the places were gifted to me, I had to earn them!’
‘The boys in the team worked really hard in getting the bike ready and we’re all a bit stumped as to why we’re struggling a bit with top-end speed as there doesn't seem to be anything wrong. Still, it's better to find these things out now rather than later and we're not a million miles away.’
Phil Wain