Encouraging debut for Martin
Kirmington's Guy Martin had a very encouraging debut in the British Superbike Championship held at Brands Hatch on Monday and, but for a bit of bad luck, he could well have claimed points in both races. Riding the Hydrex Honda, Guy was competing in the Superbike class for the first time in his career and, despite the high level of competition; he acquitted himself excellently and defeated a number of former BSB race winners, in his build up towards the Centenary TT in June.
Conditions at the Kent venue were perfect all weekend and, having found himself on the edge of the top 25 throughout practice, a time of 1m28.669s placed him 23rd on the grid for the two 20-lap races. Always a quick starter, Guy flew off the line in the first race to move inside the top 20 and by the end of lap five he was up to 18th, only a handful of places behind team-mate Karl Harris and right on the tail of factory Yamaha rider James Haydon. He was also comfortably ahead of multiple BSB winners Sean Emmett, Steve Plater and Scott Smart but it all went awry just after half distance when the engine slowed and he was forced to pull in.
It was a similar story in the second race and he had already gained five places after the first lap, to hold on to a solid 18th place. Here he remained until lap 16 and he moved up a place for the next two laps to be right on the edge of the points, again putting pressure on Haydon. Just as he was poised to make a pass, the pace car came out and when the race re-commenced two laps later he was overhauled by a couple of riders and so ended the race in 17th place, less than a second adrift of the 14th placed rider.
Talking about his weekend after the conclusion of race 2 Guy said:
"The British Superbike Championship is the most competitive domestic seriesin the world and now I've got the first round under my belt, I can see why it gets that tag! It's incredibly tough out there with world class, quality riders on some awesome machines and it's a whole new experience for me.
Having said that, I wasn't overawed by anything or anyone and concentrated on doing my job and, for my first time out in the class, I'm reasonably happy with the way I performed. I was getting quicker and quicker all weekend with my best lap in the second race being the best of the three days and not many riders set their best time in the race."
"It was a shame we had the problem in the first race and I was confident of getting some points in the second race but when the pace car pulled in, I lost drive and slipped back with riders I'd been comfortably ahead of in the first part of the race, getting by me. I've learnt a massive amount this weekend though and it can only stand me in good stead, especially for the roads, so if we can pick up at Thruxton from where we've finished here we shouldn't be too far away. The team have been awesome all weekend and the bike is fantastic so, hopefully, we'll have some points on the board after the next round."
Round 2 of the British Superbike Championship takes place in just a few days time at Thruxton on Sunday April 15th.
Phil Wain