Guy Martin heads into the 2008 Isle of Man TT Races in a confident mood after a strong practice week around the 37 3/4 mile Mountain Course that has seen him constantly at the forefront on the timesheets. The Hydrex Bike Animal Honda rider was immediately on the pace and although Tuesday and Wednesday's sessions were lost due to rain and mist on the Island, he has posted extremely competitive times in all of his classes and is well placed to claim that much yearned for first TT win.
The Kirmington ace has been, as expected, happiest on the Superbike machine and having been fastest through the week, he was shuffled back to fourth on Friday evening but, with extremely close times, his lap of 127.77mph sees him more than in contention
The Superstock machine has also been working well around the tortuous public road circuit and with a lap of 124.59mph on Monday evening, the 26-year old ended the week sixth fastest overall. The one machine that has been most problematical has been the 600cc Honda and after the dramas of the North West 200, where Guy crashed out, a new bike was built just in time for practice. A misfire on Monday meant he failed to complete a lap, pulling in as early as Quarter Bridge, and it was a similar story on Thursday where he lapped at a relatively lowly 114.43mph. However, it all came good on Friday and a lap of 121.45mph saw him haul himself right back in the hunt.
Guy Martin: "After missing Tuesday and Wednesday evening's practice, we've been chasing ourselves a bit with the set up of the machines and time has been against us but it's been the same for everyone and we're not a million miles away. We had a problem with the '07 forks on Thursday so put the '08 ones in for tonight and they were working fine but the old ones have been repaired today in time for the race so that should help no end. The WSB-spec engine has taken a bit of tweaking but the times have been good in all of the practice sessions and we're ready to race and as strong as anyone."
"The 600cc bike was suffering from a misfire so it was good to get a good, clean lap on it tonight and we're confident we've cured the problem in readiness for Monday's first race. The Superstock bike has only been out at the North West 200 and it's required a completely different set-up here, as you'd expect, but I'm really pleased with how it's been working. The Pirelli's have been mint all week and with the weather looking good, there should be some good racing. Like I say, we're not far off and I'm feeling good going in to the races - what will be will be, but let's hope it's my year."
The first race for Guy sees him out on the Hydrex Bike Animal Honda Fireblade in the six lap Dainese Superbike race, which gets underway tomorrow at 12.00pm.
Picture courtesy of Stephen Davison (Pacemaker Press International)
