Delight and dismay at Dundalk for Guy Martin

It was a day of mixed fortunes for Guy Martin at Dundalk at the weekend, with a win in the opening Superbike race tempered by a disqualification in the Supersport 600cc race.

The Kirmington rider was also leading the Grand Final when it was stopped due to a rain shower on one part of the course and, with no sign of stopping, the meeting was subsequently abandoned.

With main rival Ryan Farquhar electing to ride in the concurrently run 250cc race, Guy took a commanding win on the Robinson Concrete Suzuki in the Superbike race, before the duo locked horns for the first time in the 600cc race. The lead changed hands on countless occasions, but Guy was forced to settle for second, a new lap record of 100.383mph being his only consolation. The Tullyally Car Breakers Honda was then removed from the results completely due to a tuned engine being used rather than a standard motor, as dictated by the Southern Centre rules.

At the conclusion of a somewhat frustrating day, Guy said: “Well, that was a bizarre day to say the least! The meeting got off to a great start with a comfortable win in the Superbike race, ahead of Roger Maher and Adrian Archibald, and then I had a great dice with Ryan in the Supersport event. I told the organisers at the beginning of the day that I only had a tuned engine for the bike, but they said I was OK to race so it was somewhat of a surprise to be disqualified, and an obvious disappointment.”

“I was determined to make amends in the Grand Final, and things were looking good until they stopped the race, which surprised me as there were only a few spots in the air. They held us on the line for about ten minutes, by which time the heavens opened and that was that. I’m sure if the race hadn’t have been stopped we’d have got it finished in the dry so, all in all, it was a stop-start day and rather frustrating. It’s history now though, so I’m looking ahead to Killalane and, with just a few meetings left, I’m aiming to run up front again and finish the season on a high note.”

The Killalane races are the penultimate round of the Irish Road Race Championships, and take place on Saturday and Sunday 10th/11th September.