Guy Martin makes progress on roads debut for Relentless Suzuki
TT star Guy Martin says he is making ‘good progress’ after a record-breaking first roads outing for the Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing team.
Martin’s first race for the team came at the opening round of the British Superbike Championship over the Easter weekend, but he made his roads debut for TAS at the Cookstown 100 on Saturday.
Both events were part of his preparations for the 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy – where he is determined to finally score his first TT win.
Although the Lincolnshire racer was focusing on developing his stable of GSX-R Suzukis, and despite seven years away from the Cookstown 100, Martin made an instant impression with three podium finishes and a new outright lap record of 90.932mph.
With limited qualifying time on Friday evening, Martin made the best of his second row starts in all three events – two Superbike and one Supersport – around the tight County Tyrone circuit.
All three races were blanket finishes and despite a little disappointed at not winning, Martin was happy to have made giants steps forward with his Relentless Suzukis.
He said:
“We can’t be disappointed. We learnt a lot more about the bikes and set a new lap record so job done.”
“I’m a racer and I want to win, but we are making progress and this weekend served its purpose. I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks, even though I felt comfortable, especially with the North West just a couple of weeks away.”
“It’s always worthwhile getting a run out on the roads and between this week and last at Brands, as I say, we’re making good progress.”
Team Manager Philip Neill added:
“Guy pretty much exceeded our expectations out there and it was good to see how he handled himself on GSX-R machinery for the first time on the roads.”
“It was a positive test and a worthwhile day for him and while we are still working on making little improvements to the bikes, we are pretty much ready for the North West 200.”