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In March 2011 BBC One is broadcasting
the educational documentary series "The Boat that
Guy Built." In the show Martin (a truck mechanic)
along with his childhood pal Mavis (Mark Davis) renovate
a narrowboat travelling on the canal network using the
inventions of the Industrial Revolution. The programme
involves reconstructions of early industrial processes
such as smelting iron. The programme is narrated by
Liza Tarbuck.
Guy Martin
(born November 4, 1981 in Kirmington, North Lincolnshire,
England) is a British motorcycle racer, television presenter,
mechanic. He has primarily competed in road racing events.
Early
Career
Martin decided to follow his father Ian's footsteps
by racing motorcycles and moved to Ireland to join Team
Racing.
After a highly successful debut year on the roads, that
saw him win the Cock o' the North and International
Gold Cup races at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough as well
as the Irish 750cc Support Championship, he moved to
the Uel Duncan Racing team for 2004. It was another
successful year as he retained the Gold Cup whilst he
also made his debut at the International road races
with the highlight being 7th in the Senior TT. His best
lap was 122.10 mph which, at the time, was the fastest
ever lap set by a newcomer and almost 6 mph quicker
than the previous best.
Staying with the team for 2005, Martin made further
strides forward and at the TT he was the only rider
to finish all five of his races inside the top six.
A debut podium in the Senior was backed up with a fourth,
two fifths and a sixth whilst he improved his lap speeds
to in excess of 126 mph. He also took the Scarborough
Gold Cup for the third successive year.
AIM
Yamaha
In 2006
Martin raced for Alistair Flanagan's AIM Yamaha race
team. His first race for the team was the 2005 Macau
GP. During the 2006 season Martin was allowed to race
on the English circuits again, taking part in some British
Supersport championship races. He also participated
in the 3 Scarborough racing events at Olivers Mount
- the Ian Watson Spring National, the Cock o' the North
and the Gold Cup meeting in which he won the prestigious
Gold Cup equaling Geoff Dukes record of 4 in a row.
The International road race meetings had mixed results
the North West 200 never went particularly well, The
Isle of Man TT looked promising but problems soon led
to it being another disappointment though at the final
international of the year, the Ulster Grand Prix, Martin
took 4 race wins and a 2nd making him the man of the
meeting.
Hydrex Honda
Hydrex
Honda were the team that secured Martin's signature
for the 2007 season. Shaun Muir team owner said he was
delighted to have such a great prospect and a true character
on board and had high hopes for the coming season. In
the early season he took part in British Superbike and
Supersport rounds to prepare for the road racing season.
The first major international of the year was the North
West 200 in which Martin finished with an 8th, a 4th,
two 3rds and a 2nd. In the CP Hire Superstock race after
a bad start Martin finished 3rd. The Isle of Man TT
was the next major race on the calendar and Martin got
a 3rd, two 2nds and a DNF after running out of fuel
with less than 3 miles to go until his first pit stop.
In the Senior race he just missed out on becoming only
the second rider, at the time, to have lapped at more
than 130 mph, his best lap falling short at 129.816
mph. Later video footage showed him run wide on the
entry to Windy Corner and it was this mistake that led
him to miss out on the magical 130 mph lap.
Martin continued to race on the English scene and then
he regained his Cock o' the North title at the Scarborough
circuit before going to Ireland for the Kells Road Races
in which he took one race win. This was preparation
for the Ulster Grand Prix which was delayed for two
hours due to bad weather and in the first race Martin
brought home a 5th position, in race 2 a win, and in
the superbike race, which was shortened due to weather,
a 2nd. After this red flag the days racing was cancelled
due to bad weather and that meant for the 2nd year in
a row Martin was the man of the meeting. The Scarborough
Gold Cup meeting ended with him winning all the races
on the final day including the Gold Cup.
2008
On Tuesday
4 December Martin announced that he would be continuing
with Hydrex Honda for the 2008 season. The team introduced
a new sponsor, Bike Animal, a motorcycle news website.
As well as contesting a full season in the British Superbike
Championship, Guy again competed in the three Internatioanl
road races but he was cruelly denied his first TT win
when he broke down whilst comfortably leading the opening
Superbike race. He was eleven seconds in the lead when
an electrical problem forced him out on the fourth lap.
He did claim a podium, third, in the Superstock race
but suffered further retirements in the Senior and second
Supersport races. In September 2008 it was back to Olivers
Mount for the International Gold Cup. Guy won the feature
event and now has won 6 Gold Cups in a row, a new record,
and he also has the lap record for the 1000cc bikes
at Scarborough with a time of 1:45.3.
2009
For 2009
Guy continued with the Hydrex Honda team for a third
successive year contesting all three Internationals
as well as contesting selected British Championship
and Irish National races. In a move from previous seasons,
Guy moved away from the main Hydrex team, preferring
instead to run a smaller, close knit team and after
a steady North West 200 meeting, confidence was high
going into the TT, his number one event of the year,
as he sought to win a race at the 37.73 mile circuit
on the Isle of Man.
2009 was expected to be the year he broke the seal,
but after claiming two 2nds and a 3rd on the Superstock,
Superbike and Supersport bikes early in the week Martin's
engine gave up after coming onto the pit lane in the
2nd 600 race leaving him with his first DNF of the week
and after a radio TT commentator approached he was left
with an apology to make to TT fans for saying "If
I get my hands on the fucker who built that engine he
will feel the back of my hand!". More grief was
still to come when putting the bike into gear at the
end of his 2nd pit stop during the Senior race his chain
snapped meaning he ended up with another DNF.
He regrouped to claim the Southern 100 Championship
on the Billown road course in July, after finishing
second on no less than three occasions - 2005, 2006
and 2007 - before heading to the third International
race of the season, the Ulster Grand Prix.
After taking third in Thursday's Dundrod 150 Superbike
race, Guy repeated the result in the feature UGP Superbike
race, held over 8 laps, but he ensured he would not
be without an International win in 2009 when he won
a thrilling second Superbike race, just over a tenth
of a second in front of fellow Lincolnshire rider Gary
Johnson. He also placed 4th and 5th in the equally close
Superstock and Supersport races.
At the 2009 Gold Cup at Oliver's Mount, Guy won prestigious
Steve Henshaw Gold Cup feature race, becoming the first
rider to win 7 consecutive meetings.
2010
The end
of 2009 saw Martin leave Hydrex for Wilson Craig Honda
a team which hailed from Northern Ireland. Martin failed
to take a podium at the North West 200, with his best
result being fourth in the second Superbike race. He
went to the Isle of Man TT, looking to achieve his first
TT victory. However, the meeting was dominated by Ian
Hutchinson, who took a record-breaking five victories
in all the solo races.
In the
final race, the Senior TT, Martin was a challenger to
stop Hutchinson achieving the clean sweep, but was involved
in an incident on the third lap of the race at Ballagarey,
having led the race just before the first pit stop.
Martin was airlifted to Noble's Hospital in Douglas
with chest injuries. He was later diagnosed as suffering
bruising to both lungs and minor fractures to his upper
spine. His performance at the meeting was criticised
by Simon Buckmaster, whose Performance Technical Racing
company built the bikes that Martin was running. Martin
received considerable public support over Buckmaster's
comments, leading Buckmaster to reiterate them later.
2011
November
2010 brought news Guy Martin had been signed by Relentless
Suzuki the team run by the Neill family based in Northern
Ireland. Previously the team has had over 18 TT wins
with riders including... Cameron Donald, David Jefferies,
Bruce Anstey, Adrian Archibald and Jim Moodie and are
looking to get the fastest man to never win a TT on
to the top of the podium in 2011.
Philip Neill had this to say about his new signing “It’s
been a difficult decision changing our line-up as we
pride ourselves on loyalty. In saying that, Guy is a
rider I’ve wanted to work with for a couple of
seasons now, and my loyalty to other riders probably
held that decision back a little. He came to us full
of enthusiasm and wants to do things our way, which
was a good starting point. And on top of that, I’m
a sucker for a challenge and I like Guy’s free
spirit attitude. He’s created a Guy Martin brand
without even trying and that’s also pretty special.
“Obviously we know he’s a very talented
rider and has been extremely unlucky not to have won
races at both the North West 200 and the TT. So our
motivation is to complete that task, while making sure
Guy also fulfils his commercial responsibility representing
a manufacturer backed team. Having spoken to him at
length before we agreed a deal, I know he won't let
Suzuki or our sponsors down.”
Guy is
said to have found a good direction after joining his
team-mates during testing at Cartagena. The popular
road racer will pilot the team's Suzuki GSX-R1000 in
selected events this season, most notably the Isle of
Man TT where he will be striving for a first win.
Travelling to Spain with Josh Brookes and Alastair Seeley
– who will compete in the British Superbike and
British Supersport Championships respectively -, Martin
focused on sorting a good set up on the Superstock and
Superbike machines.
“It's been steady away boy… steady away,”
he said. “We are making good headway and are
not bothered with the stopwatch. We've had three days
working very hard on the Superbike and we gave the 'stock
bike a run out. I've found some good direction. It's
all looking grand.”
This article
is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License. It uses material from
the Wikipedia article "Guy
Martin".
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