While James Ellison revelled in the glory of a maiden Bennetts British Superbike Championship podium finish, the
Oulton Park weekend proved to be one of mixed emotions for Hydrex Bike Animal Honda team-mate Guy Martin.
Martin had qualified 13th on the grid at the Cheshire venue but then suffered a fall on his slowing down lap at the end of the session to pick up a sore wrist and damage his bike, and it wasn't helped when he was one of five riders to fall on the opening lap of race one following a rain shower as the field lined up on the grid.
With the race red-flagged as a result and the teams and riders switching to a wet set-up for the restart, Martin was able to bring home points in twelfth place having run inside the top ten before his tyres started to go away from him in the closing stages.
Unfortunately, Martin was then forced to retire from race two due to an issue with his bike and he said the focus now would turn to trying to pick up solid results at both
Brands Hatch this weekend and in the upcoming North West 200.
"It's been a tough weekend and I'm still struggling for confidence in the front end despite the whole team's best efforts to make everything work for me," he said. "With the first race being wet, grip was always going to be an issue as the race wore on and we were all sideways in the final few laps so twelfth was ok given the conditions although I was a bit disappointed to have slipped back from tenth.
"In the second race, I had a couple of major front wheel slides and I eventually overshot the chicane so we may have to go back to the drawing board to sort out the problems I'm having. I could have done without the two spills but they weren't anything major and my wrist felt fine on the bike so we'll re-group in time for the next round and make sure we're in good shape heading in to the North West 200."
