Guy Martin enjoys successful North West 200

Kirmington’s Guy Martin enjoyed a very profitable day of racing on Saturday at the International North West 200 road races, with his AIM Racing Yamaha.

Guy finished in the top nine on no less than four occasions and only two slight, and unfortunate, mishaps prevented him from finishing in the top six on all five occassions. Although it was only his second race of the year, and the first on two of the machines, Guy was smooth throughout the week and rode very sensibly on his new Yamaha machines, again impressing the thousands of fans that attended the meeting. His best result of the day came in the Superstock race, where he claimed fourth, his best ever finish around the 8.9-mile circuit.

Having only had an outing at Scarborough, it was a hectic two nights of qualifying for Guy as he tried to get all three machines dialled in, and he was forced to hitch a lift back to the pits on Tuesday night, the Superbike having cut out on the run to Station Corner. However, he was having a better time on the Supersport machine, and ended eighth on the grid, whilst the Superbike was cured in time for final qualifying and he finished 11th overall, very happy with the performance of the R1. Stoppages in the two sessions meant his time on the Superstock was limited, but he lined up 15th on the grid, despite only having completed a handful of laps.

With perfect conditions on race day, proceedings didn’t get off to the ideal start for Guy - as he was forced to retire on the final lap of the opening Superbike race whilst holding on to a strong seventh spot. But he put the disappointment behind him to bring the AIM Racing R6 Yamaha home in a hard fought sixth in the first Supersport 600cc race. After a short break he was back out in the Superstock race and finished in 4th place, for not only his best result of the day but also his best ever placing at the North West 200. In the feature NW200 Superbike race Guy got a solid start and, after overhauling Ian Lougher, he set about closing the gap on Cameron Donald, who was in fourth. Despite a lap of 121.494mph, Guy ran out of laps and he ended up in a more than creditable fifth place, just 1.4 seconds adrift of the Australian.

In the final race of the day, the second Supersport 600cc race, he looked on course for another top six finish until a coming together with Darran Lindsay at University Corner knocked the kill switch on the bike and stopped the engine. He was able to get going again, but the time lost meant he eventually crossed the line in ninth place. Nevertheless, it was another top ten finish and, with strong performances in each and every outing, Guy is in confident mood heading towards the Isle of Man TT.

Speaking immediately after the final race, the 25-year-old said:
“Although I would have liked to have won today, the shortage of track time meant that wasn’t really going to happen, but I’m very happy with the way I rode today, and with how the bikes performed. I was confident that I could have claimed fourth in the first Superbike race, until an electrical problem caused the bike to stop at York Corner, but for my first ever outing on the Superbike machine it went very well. Top end speed is excellent, as good as anything else out there, and it handles really well. It was a similar story in the feature race and I know there’s a bit more to come. As for the Superstock bike, it was 100% and, despite only doing three laps in practice, it gave no problems at all and worked perfectly.

“We made a lot of changes with the Supersport bike after practice, which were spot-on, but I just need to ride the little bike harder. It’s the first time I’ve had a really good 600cc bike for a long time, and the Dunlop tyres are working brilliantly, so I just need to get into the groove that little bit more. Darran’s seat unit hit the kill switch on my bike and, to get it going again, you have to be in neutral. So by the time I’d sorted everything out, the next group of riders were coming, so that was why I dropped back on the final lap. We’ve learnt a lot with all of the bikes this week, and the team have been working really hard, so all in all it’s been a solid day. The North West isn’t my favourite circuit, but I’ve improved my results here and am still in one piece, so it’s put me in a really positive and confident frame of mind heading into the TT.”

Guy now has a two-week break before the Isle of Man TT Races, with practice for the world famous event getting underway on Saturday, 27th May.