Steve Martin and his DFX Treme Honda team have being having funding problems which left his ride for this weekend in jeopardy. He is now on a race by race deal for the next three rounds as he explained to
Crash.net Radio.
Question:
You've had a tough couple of weeks, can you bring us up to speed on what has been going on?
Steve Martin:
It hasn't been the ideal start to the European season that is for sure. To be told by your team when you've only done two races on the bike that you won't be riding anymore, especially when you've dragged your family all the way over from Australia. Anyway we are here in Europe, I'm here at
Donington and I'm on the bike after a lot of negotiation with DFX, but at the moment it is like a race by race thing for the next three races and if they don't find any money I'll be looking for a ride. So I'm open to anything at the moment as they can't fulfil their contract.
Q:
Have you got any other options at the moment?
SM:
No really, I did actually have an offer from someone to do something but I can't really talk about it. It wasn't a racing role and it just doesn't sit well with me at the moment to not race. I came to Europe to race so I want to race.
Q:
Apart from the team problems how has the bike been coming along?
SM:
It's been unfortunate really as I've been thinking about what I need to do to the bike to improve it, as it is far from ready to race competitively. I should have been thinking about that, not what do I need to do to actually stay on the bike, because we have missed the Valencia test where we had a lot of things to test. Especially now-a-days with the level of the bikes, it is not just a matter of tyre compounds or anything like that or springs anymore it is all electronics which, especially on a day like today at Donington where it is wet the last thing you want to be trying is new electronics. You need to go to a test and sort it out.
Q:
How long is it since you raced at Donington Park?
SM:
It's been a long time 2001 so my first year in Europe I think I raced here. I actually really like the circuit but I was over in the café there before and there was a history wall there with all the famous races and stuff they have had over the years. I looked at all the photos and the funny thing was all of the races were wet, I hope it isn't going to be wet on Sunday.
Q:
Moving away from the racing how is your new baby boy?
SM:
He is good but he has just had his first little cold. The night before we were due to fly from our place in Switzerland to here, at three o'clock in the morning we hear he is making a funny wheezing noise. We are thinking “Oh my God what are we going to do?!” We were up with him all night and one minute we were getting dressed to take him to the hospital and next minute he sounds normal and we get back into bed. We did that all night but in the morning he was ok to bring. We brought him here and took him to the doctors and he is on antibiotics at the minute, but he has picked up. Although I've got problems, I'm thinking about him as well and that is the most important thing.
