Cookstown 100: Guy Martin in Superbike double
Tyco BMW's Guy Martin followed up his Spring Cup triumph at Scarborough with a Superbike double at the Cookstown 100 in Northern Ireland on Saturday.
Martin, who missed the Irish national roads event last year, warmed up for the onset of the international meetings with a brace in the feature class on his S1000RR Superstock machine as rival Michael Dunlop endured a disappointing day on his first local appearance of the season.
Dunlop had to settle for second best behind Martin in the first Superbike race, albeit by only 0.114 seconds at the finish, but crashed out of the big race of the day on his Milwaukee Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike while leading with three laps remaining.
The 11-time Isle of Man TT winner walked away unhurt, leaving Martin to take full advantage as he completed a brace in front of a huge crowd at the Orritor circuit ahead of runner-up Derek Sheils and Dean Harrison on the Mar-Train Yamaha.
"I could have smoked a Woodbine in that last race, the Superstock BMW was so stable and working just mint," said Martin.
"I was never under any pressure and when Dunlop came past, I thought, 'this will give me a chance to have a look at what he is doing and plan my pass for the last lap'.
"We certainly had an advantage on the back part of the circuit and definitely the speed on the front straight to make the pass.
"It didn't need to happen, but a good day all round and just what we needed."
William Dunlop on the second of the Tyco BMW machines, Jamie Hamilton (Burrows Suzuki) and James Cowton were the top six.
Michael Dunlop was also out of luck in the Supersport class as he made his debut on his MD Racing Yamaha R6, twice retiring as older brother William stormed to a double.
In race one, Dunlop was a start-to-finish winner on the Chris Dowd/Ivan Curran Racing Yamaha by almost five-and-a-half seconds from Harrison, who was making his second visit to the event following his debut in 2013, with Hamilton third.
The 29-year-old made a similar fast start from pole in the second Supersport 600 race but soon came under threat from younger brother Michael, who closed in and looked set to throw down a challenge at the halfway point of the race until he was forced out with a technical problem.
Dunlop won by 0.7 seconds in the end from new Wilson Craig recruit Derek McGee with Harrison completing the top three.
On an otherwise low-key day for TT star Dunlop, the Milwaukee Yamaha rider did manage to come out on top in the Supertwin race on the McAdoo Kawasaki by half-a-second from Michael Sweeney with Hamilton on the podium again in third.
