By Phil Wain
September 13 2005

Guy Martin claimed a double victory last weekend at the Killalane road races to end his Irish season on a high note, with wins in two vastly different classes. The wins came in the Superbike and Classic, to further emphasise his versatility and adaptability and, but for a damaged oil cooler in the Grand Final, it could have been a fantastic hat-trick. The Kirmington youngster was forced to retire from the event as a result, but not before he had taken the lap record, adding it to the Classic and 250cc records he already had beside his name.

Riding John Sims’ Trident, the Classic race gave Guy his first win by a commanding 30 seconds and, as soon as the race finished, he jumped on board the Robinson Concrete GSX-R1000 Suzuki to take the Open race, just ahead of great rivals Ryan Farquhar and Martin Finnegan. Guy and Finnegan were then embroiled in a terrific dice in the Grand Final, but a stone kicked up off the road and broke the oil cooler and, with smoke beginning to pour from the bike, he was forced to retire.

After completing his season of racing in Ireland, a satisfied Guy said: “That was a very enjoyable day’s racing, and I’m very pleased to score another double. Obviously, it would have been nice to score a hat-trick, but it wasn’t meant to be. The circuit was in great condition and was very grippy, but there were a few loose stones where the road had been resurfaced, and one of those got kicked up and damaged the bike.”

“It was especially pleasing to win the Classic race, as John has worked tirelessly throughout the year only for small problems to let us down in the races. There was some good, close racing between all of us and, although I couldn’t take the main event, I was leading at the time and had just claimed my third lap record around the Killalane course. Thanks to everyone connected with the team who have supported me in Ireland this year and, hopefully, I can get some more success in the final races this year.”

The season may be over in Ireland for Guy, but there is still plenty of racing elsewhere, and his next stop is the International Gold Cup meeting at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough, where he aims to take the trophy for the third successive year. The meeting takes place on Saturday and Sunday, 17th-18th September.