Guy Martin and the whole Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing team will pick themselves up after the bitter disappointment of Saturday's Dainese 6-lap Superbike TT on the Isle of Man where Martin was forced to retire from second position on the penultimate lap when his battery lost charge - and prepare for Monday's double header; the 4-lap Supersport Race one and the 4-lap Superstock event.
During the Dainese Superbike TT, Martin was never outside the top four and an opening standing start lap of 17mins 23.82sec/ 130.126mph left him just five seconds off the lead. Coming in for fuel at the end of lap two Martin had moved up to third place with yet another 130mph effort [130.309mph], and by the end of lap three he only had eventual winner John McGuinness in front of him, just 19 seconds down on the Morecambe rider.
On the completion of lap 4, again pitting for fuel, Martin had consolidated second place ahead of fellow Lincolnshire rider Gary Johnson with a lap of 129.767mph. It was then a case of 'wait and see' with McGuinness holding a 29 second lead over the Relentless Suzuki man. But unfortunately on the drop down the Mountain at the end of lap five his GSX-R1000 Superbike lost power and he eventually retired between Hillberry and Signpost Corner.
"That was a disappointing end to what looked like a certain second place, but that's the TT boy, it can jump up and bite you," Martin lamented. "We got off to a great start and were well within striking distance of John on that opening lap. From there I just kept it steady and felt pretty comfortable. After the second stop I knew John was going to be near impossible to catch, but you 'gotta keep trying - and we were well in control in second place.
"As you probably saw by the TV footage, I was looking around the dash frantically trying to see what had gone wrong and when I got to Keppel Gate I knew the job was... well you know the rest. It's time to re-group and get the head in gear for Monday where we get two more chances. And we're well up for it... well up for it."
Team Manager Philip Neill added, "After all the hard work from everyone in our team, including Guy I might add, it's extremely disappointing to lose out on a certain second position in the Superbike TT race. It's somewhat ironic that following on from a 100% successful testing schedule and early race programme - where we did not encounter any mechanical gremlins at all with Guy's machines - we suffer a very uncharacteristic generator failure in one of the biggest races of the season. But that's the TT I suppose.
"I'm not sure if Guy could have made any significant impact on John McGuinness during that final lap, however with second position looking very safe and a lap time of 130.3mph under his belt, Guy can remain very optimistic about his chances in the remaining TT races.
"It's great to see so many spectators on the Island, so hopefully we can give all those Guy Martin fans something to cheer about before too long. Thanks to all our sponsors and to those who are supporting Guy this week at the TT."
Main Photo: Guy Martin
