Steve Martin took a step forward with the set-up and handling of his Honda CBR1000RR at the second round of the Corona Extra Superbike World Championship at his native Phillip Island.
Set-up changes throughout the weekend enabled the Aussie to make progress with his lap times over the three days and take 11th place on the grid in Superpole, followed by a 10th place finish in race one.
Unfortunately for the laid back rider, further improvements and results were hampered in race two due to clutch troubles which forced Martin to retire on the first lap of the 22 lap race.
“After the first round at Qatar I knew there was a lot of work we still needed to do on set up, but when I went out for the first session at Phillip Island the bike felt completely wrong,” he said, “For that to happen at a track I know like the back of my hand and also somewhere where I normally go really well, I knew right away what we needed to change in order to get an ideal base setting for my riding style. And by the end of the second qualifying on Saturday morning I was feeling much happier with the bike's set up and handling.”
The changeable weather of Phillip Island came into play when it started to racin during second qualifying much to Martin's annoyance, “It was very frustrating when I was out on my final fast lap at the end of that qualifying session and it started to rain, as I had to back off towards the end of the lap and wasn't able to improve my time or qualifying position.”
As well as the weather to contend with Martin was having problems with qualifying tyres too, “The qualifying tyres also weren't working too well and I was experiencing a lot chatter, so for Superpole I just had to ride round and my 33.9 got me 11th which I was actually surprised at!” he exclaimed.
As is tradition at the picturesque costal circuit of Phillip Island, Sunday morning's warm up session brought rain and while still on slick tyres, Martin was able to run competitively with the other machines out on the damp track.
