GUY MARTIN RACING

Hydrex Honda’s Guy Martin secured a strong third place in Monday’s 6-lap Superbike race, the opening event of the 2009 Isle of Man TT races. The Kirmington rider briefly held on to second place before being overhauled by fellow Honda rider Steve Plater but with a number of 129mph+ laps he brought the bike home for his sixth TT podium.

Leaving the line at number 8, Guy found himself down in fifth place at Glen Helen on the opening lap but he was gradually getting in to his stride and a lap of 129.077mph saw him slot in to third place. Lapping extremely close to his personal best on the second lap, a speed of 129.806mph saw him overhaul Conor Cummins for second but he was coming under extreme pressure from Plater who was only half a second down.

A strong pit stop saw Guy consolidate his second place but Plater managed to overhaul him on the third lap and with his fellow Lincolnshire rider edging ahead he focused his efforts on holding on to the final podium spot, minor handling problems preventing him from pushing harder. Twenty seconds behind Plater in the closing stages, Guy was even further ahead of Gary Johnson in fourth so he brought the bike home for a solid third place to get his 2009 TT campaign off to a strong start, his final race average being126.948mph in what was the fastest TT race ever.

Speaking afterwards, Guy said: “The bike’s in the ballpark but it’s not quite at the 100% I need it to be. We’ve cured the stability problems that we had in practice but the bike wouldn’t quite turn in to some of the other corners and I did lose the front on a couple of occasions so we’ll hopefully fit last year’s forks in time for a practice lap on Wednesday. The bike never missed a beat today though and after all the problems we had last year, I’m over the moon to get a finish and although 3rd’s not where I want to be, it’s good to be back on the box.”

Team boss Shaun Muir added, “It’s obviously pleasing that Guy’s stepped on to the TT podium once more but I’m slightly disappointed for both him and the boys in the team as I know how much effort they’ve put into this meeting. Their whole year has been built around the TT and whilst third would be very good for some people, we’ve come here to win so we’ll be looking to do just that in one, or more, of the next four races.”

Guy will be back out in action with the 4-lap Supersport race getting underway at 12.15pm and the 4-lap Superstock taking place later in the day at 6.30pm.

Phil Wain – Freelance PR
Picture courtesy of Stephen Davison – Pacemaker Press International
For more information see HydrexHonda.com