By Phil Wain
Picture by Glynne Lewis
Guy Martin overcame a tough weekend at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough to win the International Gold Cup Trophy for the seventh consecutive year. Riding Tommy Hill's spare British Superbike machine at the 2.43-mile public road circuit, the Hydrex Honda ace suffered a spill on Saturday and endured a number of technical gremlins but it all came right in the feature race and he was able to lead from start to finish to take another popular win.
The weekend got off to the perfect start when Guy won his Superbike heat race on Saturday but in the main 8-lap race a poor start saw him drop back to fifth at the end of the first lap. He soon moved up to third but try as he might there was nothing he could do about the pace of Ryan Farquhar and Ian Hutchinson. Then, on the last lap, a problem with the brakes saw him crash in to the back of Hutchinson at Mountside Hairpin and he went down whilst Hutchinson lost his second place although he did get going again for fifth.
With the machine damaged, Sunday saw the bike suffer a misfire in the morning warm-up and team boss Shaun Muir had to drive to the circuit with some new parts. The bike couldn't be repaired in time for the second Superbike race but he was able to take to the line for the feature Gold Cup race. The initial race was red flagged but when it got going again, Guy made no mistakes at the start and led the pack round on the opening lap. There was little to choose between the top four riders but in the second half of the race it became a straight fight between Guy and Hutchinson. The Padgetts Honda rider put Guy under extreme pressure but he responded with the fastest lap of the race, and a new outright lap record of 83.286mph, to take yet another win.
The two 600cc races were equally hectic and after coming third in his heat, Guy had to settle for fifth on the grid and a second row start. That meant it would be tough to overtake the four riders in front of him around the narrow woodland circuit but he was able to claim a brace of thirds in the two races.
Speaking later, a pleased Guy said: "That was a tough weekend and I'm both delighted and relieved to have come away with the Gold Cup again as there was certainly a time when I didn't think it would be possible. The bike was completely new to me and with all the electronics on the bike it was hard to get the bike to work in the right way for me. We kept chipping away but the poor start in Saturday's race meant it was a real struggle and third was all I could do before making a mistake on the final lap and taking out Hutchy in the process - it was completely my fault. We thought the bike was ok but when we started it up on Sunday morning, it was misfiring considerably."
"The cam sensor had broke and with no spare Shaun had to come down to the circuit and we couldn't get it fixed in time for the Superbike race so I was gutted to miss out on that. We got the bike fired up just in time for the Gold Cup but I was a bit apprehensive as I was going in to the race blind and the last thing I wanted was the bike to cut out somewhere but, fortunately, she never missed a beat. It was an incredibly tough race, probably my toughest ever Gold Cup, as Hutchy was on my back wheel the whole way and that could be seen in both of us breaking the outright lap record. I was able to keep him at arms length though and to win again was brilliant. It's a great way to end the year and a big thanks to all my team - Danny, Cammy and Johnny - and to Shaun for all his support this season."
Team boss Shaun Muir added: "It's been a really busy week for the Hydrex team with two of our local events, Croft and Scarborough, coming within a week of each other whilst we've also had two new arrivals to contend with so it's extremely pleasing to end with Guy winning the Gold Cup again. He had a few niggling problems with the bike, which weren't his fault at all, whilst he also had to contend with some extremely tough competition but he got his just rewards for a lot of hard work and effort."
"The roads campaign has been a bit frustrating for Guy as that TT win again eluded him, and the team, but he also notched up a lot of success with wins at the Ulster GP, Southern 100 and now here so I'm pleased that his season has ended on a high. He's been 100% professional throughout and I'd like to say thanks to him and all his team for everything they've done in 2009. Regarding our plans for 2010, SMR and Hydrex will sit down over the next few days to determine which way we'll go for both the circuits and the roads and we hope to have a few decisions made in the next 7-10 days."
Guy's domestic season has now come to an end but he hopes to contest the now annual 'Kings of Wanneroo' challenge races in Australia in November.
