Martin took the last Superbike race win in style
By Phil Wain at the Ulster GP
Image by Graham Norton
Relentless Suzuki's Guy Martin rounded off his Ulster GP campaign in winning style on Saturday when he took a start to finish victory in the second Superbike race held in patchy, inclement conditions. The race was delayed to allow the track to dry after another brief rain shower but although 80% of the track had dried out, it remained wet from Cochranstown to Budore and meant caution was needed throughout.
However, Martin seized control on the opening lap despite some ‘clenching’ moments and led the field round at the end of lap one although Bruce Anstey, again starting in the second wave, was only 0.013s adrift. It was a Honda benefit after that with Keith Amor, Gary Johnson, Cameron Donald and William Dunlop in hot pursuit although John McGuinness didn’t start until everyone had left the grid, problems in the first race only fixed in time for him to rejoin long after the race had started.
On lap 2, Martin began to press on ahead, extending his lead to 1.6s but Anstey was unable to repeat his first race heroics and dropped back to sixth on time as Johnson moved up to second, Amor running slightly wide at the hairpin. Dunlop was also loving forward, overtaking team-mate Donald.
By lap 4, Martin’s lead was over three seconds and although Dunlop moved up to second and reduced the lead by one second, bringing it down to 2.6s, Martin immediately responded and the gap was back up to 3.6s as they swept into their final lap. Donald was still in touch with Dunlop and Amor but Johnson, meanwhile, had dropped off the pace significantly and was now down in 6th. McGuinness, although a long way back on the road, had worked his way up inside the top 20.
On the last lap, Martin had the race in the bag and was able to come home a commanding three seconds to the good for his 7th UGP win with Amor sealing second after Dunlop and Donald got tangled up with backmarkers as they exited the hairpin for the final time. Anstey took fifth with Johnson in sixth and Michael Dunlop a lonely seventh. Conor Cummins, Adrian Archibald and Australian David Johnson were the remaining top ten finishers whilst Dan Kneen put in an impressive ride, coming from the third wave to take 11th. McGuinness crossed the line on the back wheel in 17th.
1 Guy Martin (Suzuki)
2 Keith Amor (Honda) +2.944s
3 William Dunlop (Honda) +3.062s
4 Cameron Donald (Honda) +3.343s
5 Bruce Anstey (Honda) +4.100s
6 Gary Johnson (Honda) +21.897s
7 Michael Dunlop (Kawasaki) +28.610s
8 Conor Cummins (Kawasaki) +36.628s
9 Adrian Archibald (Kawasaki) +39.877s
10 David Johnson (Kawasaki) +46.355s
Fastest lap: William Dunlop (130.50mph)
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