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North West 200 heartbreak for Martin
Guy Martin was denied his first ever North West 200 victory on Saturday when he was forced to retire from the feature Superbike race whilst leading comfortably around the 8.9-mile Northern Ireland public road circuit. Having qualified in third, the Hydrex Bike Animal Honda rider was in imperious form on the Honda Fireblade but, with a 3-second lead and just two laps to go, a broken radiator hose clip forced him out at University Corner.
It was a mixed day all round for the Kirmington ace but he opened his account for the day with a brilliant 2nd place in the first Superbike race. There was never anything between the leading four riders and Michael Rutter, John McGuinness and Steve Plater all had a chance to win but, on the final lap, Rutter managed to find his way through and Guy had to settle for second, just 0.810seconds adrift.
Seventh in the opening Supersport race followed, where he posted the third best lap of the race as he fought his way up from an initial 12th. Meanwhile, the five lap Superstock race saw him ride even better as he again fought his way through from a bad start. Twelfth on the grid, Guy dropped back to 14th on the first lap but he picked off the opposition one by one and with the fastest lap of the race, a new lap record, he was able to claim a fine 4th place.
The feature 6-lap NW200 Superbike race followed and with a brilliant start this time around, he grabbed the lead and steadily increased his advantage over the next three and a half laps. As he went into the fourth lap, his lead was over 3 seconds but he soon realised his race was over and, with the aforementioned clip having broken, the engine overheated and he was forced to pull to the side of the road. His day then ended on an even lower note in the second Supersport race when he crashed heavily at Black Hill, fortunately escaping with just bumps and bruises.

roadracingworld.com


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