With a downpour on Saturday morning meaning that no riders would be able to better their lap times and therefore improve their qualifying positions from the previous day, Martin used the second qualifying session to set up the electronic system on his second bike as the quick shifter issue with his first bike remained unresolved.
“Although that session was wet, we were able to achieve quite a lot with the set up and I ended that session in 10th position, which wasn't bad for an hour's work,” said Martin.
Still lapping on wet tyres for Saturday afternoon's second free practice session, Martin high sided coming out of turn one in the slippery conditions. Fortunately, he walked away with only minor bruising, but damage in the form of a hole was caused to the clutch cover, although this did not become apparent until race two when it provided the channel for an oil leak, on to Steve's boot and bike.
“For the morning warm up on Sunday I just rode round to shake down the bike ready for the race, as there was no point in pushing for a lap time and I also wanted to preserve the bike as it was the only one I had that was set up,” he explained.
“Although the track was still damp, everyone started race one on slicks and up until lap nine, when my race was over, I had achieved the second fastest lap time of the race behind
James Toseland. It was at this point, having managed to catch up with the group of riders who were dicing for the sixth position, that the throttle assembly just fell off my handle bar and almost caused me to crash!”
Race two proved another bitter disappointment, when an oil leak sprayed oil over Martin's boots causing the gritty rider to call it a day and be forced to retire into the pits on lap 14, concluding the weekend of woe.
