Guy Martin put in two battling performances at Brands Hatch on Sunday when he was competing in the final round of the 2008 British Superbike Championship and the Hydrex Bibe Animal Honda rider was ultimately rewarded with 15th in the 2nd race for a hard earned championship point.
The Kent venue was bathed in glorious sunshine all weekend but Guy, like many others, found a distinct lack of grip around the Indy circuit. Despite pushing hard, his best qualifying time of 47.082s left him in 20th place overall, albeit just one second off the pole position time, and so he started the two races on the fifth row of the grid.
A good start in the first 30-lap race saw him slot into 17th at the end of the first lap but despite the fast pace, very few places were exchanged and it was only on the 28th lap, when Stuart Easton and Michael Laverty dropped out that the order was shuffled. Their demise promoted Guy up to 15th but on the penultimate corner on the final lap fellow Honda rider Jason O’Halloran found a way by and he knocked Guy out of the points, leaving him in a frustrated 16th.
In the 2nd race, the last one of the season, an even better start saw Guy up into 15th and on lap 3 he overhauled the factory Suzuki of Atsushi Watanabe to move up to 14th. Here he stayed until the 11th lap when he was pushed back to 15th and this was where he finished to add one more point to his championship tally.
Speaking afterwards Guy commented:
“It’s been a long hard slog on the short circuits this year but we’ve made it to the end and it’s good to end the year with a couple of finishes and another point. Obviously, I’d like to be higher up, particularly as the season started so promisingly, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be and with not picking up many points in the middle third of the year, I finished the season in the position I warranted.”
“Everyone’s worked really hard during the year and I’ve enjoyed it as I’m always happy when I’m out there racing on my bike! We’ve still got Macau to look forward to in November but a big thank you to everyone that has supported me this season and to the boys in the team especially Shaun, Warren, James, Andy and Kate, the token girl!”
Guy ended his first full season in the British Superbike Championship with 28 points, placing 18th overall. His final race of the year comes at the Macau Grand Prix, which takes place from November 13-15.
From Phil Wain, Freelance PR