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World
Superbike Reports
2005 - Steve Martin
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Steve Martin was denied a double points-scoring weekend when an engine
failure on the penultimate lap of the second race denied him the chance to
repeat his first race position of 15th.
Team-mate Garry McCoy also narrowly missed out on the points in both races,
following up his first race 17th position with 16th place in the afternoon race.
Steve had worked his way up from a grid position of 20th to lie 16th when the
rain brought out the red flag after ten laps of the first race. But a poor start
to the second section of the race hindered further significant progress. Garry,
however, took advantage of the restart to make ground and finish the final eight
laps in 14th position, but 17th on the aggregate times.
Carl said: "I thought it would be a struggle to gain points here as the
boys haven't had too much time on the bike and because of the new depth to the
championship. It was a bit of a dampener for Steve to break down because to have
scored points in both races would have been okay, although it's not where I want
us to be. We now have a lot of good things to test at Valencia and Phillip
Island and I am looking forward to the next round. I was also pleased to see
Troy win the first race, although it was no real surprise."
Steve said: "It was a shame not to finish the second race as I really
earned that point but I am really happy with the way the bike is handling. I
can't really say that it has been a bad weekend and I am really looking forward
to our next two tests. I got a great start and was carving through people on the
first lap of the second race. I got into a good rhythm and was then fending them
off for the whole race. At the restart of the first race I got behind a train of
guys and was then stuck behind Nieto, who made it very difficult for me to get
past. Once I passed him I was able to close the others down but not able to get
past Garry."
Garry said: "I am pretty happy because at least we got to finish both races
and gather as much information as possible. I am sure we will have a forward
direction on the bike with the new things that we have to test in Valencia. It's
hard to get a good start with so many guys in front of you and I pretty much sat
where I was after that in the second race. I still had a little bit of a clutch
problem and that upsets the chassis. The first part of the first race was really
difficult. The clutch was slipping way too much and I had to brake without any
engine braking. I went in a different direction for the restart and knew I would
have too much grab, which tends to lock up the rear wheel. I also suffered
chatter at the front and couldn't really keep any corner speed. But it was good
to go out and mix it with the guys and find all these things from pushing
harder."
Valencia
Tests
Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders, Steve Martin and Garry McCoy, made encouraging
strides forward during the two day official SBK test at Valencia, with Steve
also improving on the team's best lap time from the 2004 race weekend at the
Spanish circuit, by almost a quarter of a second.
His quickest lap time of 1:37.038, placed him in an impressive 7th position in
the timesheet at the end of the morning session, in a field of increased
competition for 2005 due to the return of many established two wheel
manufacturers to the series, although he finished the day in 11th overall with
the same time.
Team mate Garry McCoy was able to knock two and half seconds off his best lap
time from yesterday by using a qualifying tyre during the afternoon session, and
finished the day in 25th place with a time of 1:38.011.
Continuing dry conditions enabled both riders to make further progress with the
scheduled testing programme. Steve continued to fine tune his set up from
yesterday, making small adjustments to suspension and also testing further
engine development components. Garry continued evaluating set up options with
the longer swing arm on his number one bike, although an engine problem caused
him to switch to his second bike, fitted with the standard swing arm, for the
afternoon session.
A red flag with just 1 minute and 53 seconds of the afternoon session remaining,
while Steve and Garry were on their final flying laps on qualifying tyres,
robbed them both of the chance to further improve their lap times which they
were confident was possible in the closing stages of the day.
Team Manager, Jack Valentine commented, "Overall I'm really pleased with
how this test has gone and the amount of positive developments we have achieved.
Steve has found a chassis set up that he is very comfortable with it was great
he was able to post the seventh fastest time in the morning session and eleventh
overall is very encouraging. Garry has made progress, although struggled more
than Steve to find a set up he is totally happy with. Much of his test has been
spent testing different adjustments with the longer swing arm, but we still have
further work to do to get to a point where the whole package is working better
for him. We have a very clear direction for the next test and race at Phillip
Island."
Steve said, "I'm very happy with the progress that we've made and we're a
lot closer to the pace than we were at Qatar which is positive. We made a large
number of changes to various areas of the bike over the last two days and
overall each element was in the right direction. It's a shame I wasn't able to
get a really good final run on my qualifier as I think I could have made it in
to the 1:36's, but I'm happy with my time as it would have got me easily into
Superpole, which is the important thing as I know I can put together a good
Superpole lap. The important thing is that we've found a really good base
setting for me and also for the race here next month."
Garry said, "We continued testing with the longer swing arm this morning
and I'm convinced that's a better feeling for me. I had a problem with the
engine in my number one bike though and had to switch to my other bike with the
standard length swing arm. I actually went quicker straight away on that but
it's just not got the feeling I'm looking for so we need to do some more work
with the longer one to get the whole package working better for how I'd like it.
I'm happy with our suspension setting change from today as well and my time have
been coming down with each session. I don't feel at the moment we've got an
ideal set up for the race here at Valencia but we still have another test and
race before that and I'm confident that in that time we can get to the settings
I'm comfortable with."
Phillip
Island
Foggy PETRONAS Racing's joy in qualifying second on the grid for the second
round of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island, Australia, turned
to despair on race day. Riders Steve Martin and Garry McCoy were unable to
finish either race with both retiring from the first race through mechanical
problems before crashing out of the restarted wet section of the second race.
The day had started full of promise after Steve had qualified in second spot,
with Garry close behind in seventh and both riders were maintaining an
encouraging pace - Garry in eighth and Steve in tenth - in race two before rain
resulted in a red flag. The restarted race produced mayhem, with Garry the first
of five riders to crash at the same Haysheds section of the circuit. Steve then
suffered a bruised chin, arm and finger when his bike landed on top of him
following a high-side at the first corner, four laps into the restarted race
when he was in sixth place on aggregate times. But he was able to draw a number
of positives from his home round of the championship.
Steve said: "To qualify in second at my home circuit and to set my fastest
lap here is something that I will remember for a long time. Both Garry and I are
on the pace and that is good for PETRONAS and the team. When we get a bit more
power, instead of just catching people we will be able to catch them and pass
them. I got a better start in race two but was getting chewed up down the
staights. After the restart I went into turn one as normal and, before I even
got on the gas, the bike high-sided me and landed on top of me, driving me into
the ground. I had a terrible start in the first race and Muggeridge made it hard
for me to get past. The group in front had broken up by then but once I was past
him I was able to pull a bit of a gap before I had to retire. They were the
windiest conditions I have raced in."
In a hectic gap between races the FPR mechanics were hard at work drilling holes
into the fairings in order to reduce the effect on the bike of the gusting side
winds at the coastal circuit. Garry was again able to set a string of
competitive lap times before the rain arrived after 10 laps. And he was also
able to gain encouragement from the dry sections of the races, both won
comfortably by Troy Corser. He said: "If I had been able to get away with
the front guys I probably could have had a better chance of being close. When I
got past Steve and Chris Walker I was starting to concentrate on the guys in
front but had probably wasted the tyre a bit in the early stages. I had actually
had a few slips at Haysheds earlier in the day as it seemed a little greasy
there. I went in there quite cautious so there could even have been a gush of
wind because the bike went sideways all of a sudden. I got flicked onto the
front screen and went down into the kitty litter! Andrew Pitt also came off
behind me and I thought `Here comes something blue' as I was lying there. I was
confident his bike would stop before reaching me or else I would have been out
of there! In the first race I got a good start and had the front guys in my
sights. I was pretty happy that I could be consistent throughout the race and,
with a bit more luck, I would have finished up there."
Phillip
Island Test
FPR's Steve Martin and Garry McCoy made further encouraging strides forward
during today's second day of testing at Phillip Island, with extensive
evaluation of engine and chassis developments proving successful.
Another trouble free day of running enabled both riders to maximise track time
and using the latest specification of engine development, Steve knocked off over
a second from his best time of yesterday to post a 1:34.2, also an improvement
on the team's best lap time from the 2004 race weekend at the costal circuit.
Team mate Garry made significant in-roads with the set up of this longer swing
arm configured FP1 and was able to run half a second quicker than yesterday with
a time of 1:35.7, although cooling conditions from mid afternoon denied him the
chance of taking to the track on a qualifying tyre.
Team Manager, Jack Valentine commented, "Overall I'm really pleased with
how this test has gone. Having found a good race set up yesterday, Steve's focus
today was on testing the latest engine specification and we're really happy with
how that performed, so now we need to get working to bring that on line as soon
as possible. Garry continued work with his longer swing arm in order to find a
good race set up, and is now at a point where he is comfortable and confident on
the bike, which again is great progress. Now we're just looking forward to next
weekend's race and even more developments to get us to where we really want to
be."
Steve said, "I know I say this at every test but I am really happy with how
the last two days have gone. Each time we go out things just get better for me
and that's a great credit to all the team's hard work. I've got a good set up
for the race here at the Island and the latest engine specification I've been
testing today is really good. It's a shame we won't have that in the bikes for
this next race but it's great to know that we've got some really good things to
come."
Garry said, "Things have started coming together for me today. We continued
where we left off yesterday with more set up work of the longer swing arm, as my
aim for today was to get to a point where I felt comfy on the bike and had a
good base set up for the race here. I had to go out on my second bike in the
afternoon which doesn't have some of the latest engine developments, and also,
even though we moved over all the parts from my first bike, it still didn't feel
quite the same so we had to spend a bit of time working through that. But I feel
we achieved what we set out to do at this test and I'm more comfortable on the
bike now than I ever have been which is great. I'm looking forward to the race
and carrying on with making even more development progress."
Valencia
Foggy PETRONAS Racing's suffered another day of disappointment at the third
round of the Superbike World Championship in Valencia, Spain.
Steve Martin finished the second race of the afternoon in 17th, having crashed
in the first race. Team-mate Garry McCoy was unable to finish the first contest
after his bike developed engine problems and the Australian was taken out by
another rider in race two.
The team had spent the most of the first two days of qualifying trying a new
stage of engine development, although Steve reverted to the previous
specification for both races. Garry opted for the newer engine in the second
race in a bid to gather more data for the next round at Monza, where the latest
developments are expected to have a more significant effect.
Team manager Jack Valentine said: "The whole team has put in an extremely
motivated performance and we are not getting the results we feel we deserve. The
riders are pushing hard to pick up as many points as possible, as could be seen
in Steve's crash in the first race. I would put his result in the second race
down to a tyre problem, although we know we are still struggling with punch out
of the corners. Garry was unlucky in both races. I think we have benefited from
using the latest engine development here and, although we have more work to do
at Monza, we are hoping that circuit will suit the engine better than this tight
track."
Steve said: "There are not too many positives to take out of the weekend,
although we will hopefully get some benefit from using the latest engine during
qualifying here when we go to Monza. I tried my hardest in the second race and
the bike was better in the braking areas than in the first race. But, when the
tyre started to go off, I didn't have enough control or feel. In the first race,
Nieto was holding me up and if I had sat there any longer the pack behind me
would have come past. I had overtaken him twice but he immediately passed me
back down the start-finish straight. I lost the front end trying to make another
overtaking move stick because, if I had got past him at that part of the
circuit, I would have half a lap in which to make a bit of a gap on him."
Garry said: "Unfortunately, this was just a repeat of Phillip Island for
me. After not finishing the first race, I went into the second really wanting to
finish, no matter what. But, from starting where we are on the grid, we are
playing around with people that we shouldn't be. I was playing everything pretty
safe but Silva had passed me three times already and each time had run wide. On
lap four I passed him again down the front straight and, as I started braking,
he flew back past and ran wide again. Then he came from off line into the white
paint and left me with nowhere to go. When we touched, my rear end lost traction
and span me round. In the first race I noticed on the grid that we had a bit
more tail wind than we had had all weekend, which worried me. Sure enough, I was
running out of gears at the end of the straight and was on the hard limiter a
couple of times. I was being patient with the guys in front as a few of them
were pushing very hard but I was losing out on the str aights and getting held
up in the corners before the engine problem occurred. So I decided to use the
latest specification engine for race two and wanted to get as much information
for Monza as possible."
Monza
Foggy PETRONAS Racing left the fourth round of the Superbike World
Championship Monza empty-handed after more race day trauma.
In the first race, won by Troy Corser, Garry McCoy was setting consistent and
competitive lap times as he closed in on a pack of six riders before he suffered
a mechanical failure on the 17th lap while in 17th position, having worked his
way up from 24th. On his spare bike for race two, he also pulled in on the
penultimate lap with an engine problem but was deemed to have crossed
start-finish in pit-lane and was therefore declared to have finished the race in
21st, one lap behind winner Chris Vermeulen.
Steve Martin had also settled into a rhythm before he crashed on the 15th lap of
the first race while lying 19th. His second race ended prematurely when an
engine problem in his second bike forced the Australian to retire after just
four laps.
Team manager Jack Valentine said: "We are disappointed for PETRONAS, the
team and the riders that the results do not reflect our true potential, or the
effort being put in by everyone. But it is important to remember that we are
constantly developing a bike during racing conditions and we hope that these
efforts will bear fruit in later rounds."
Garry said: "Unfortunately, that's development! It's obviously very
disappointing, especially as I really thought we could have got some points this
weekend. It was looking pretty close in the first race before the engine
failure, as I had started to put in some good consistent lap times after an
early brake lever problem. In the first race I was pretty happy with the bike
and finding it pretty easy to go by the riders in front. Then I spent a couple
of laps trying to correct the position of my front brake lever before I got
comfortable with the bike and started to put in some good consistent lap times.
We have now just got to cross our fingers and look forward to the next
round."
Steve said: "Everyone is working really hard and I know there are so many
more things to come that will make a difference. However, you can't have one
thing, like extra horsepower, without another - you have to have the whole
package and we are still developing that whole package. The bike was handling
pretty well in the first race. I had been having problems with the drive out of
Lesmo all weekend. It was lacking power in third gear and, because I was losing
so much time there, I had to have a go in second gear. My times started to
improve but then on lap 15 it pitched me sideways going into the corner."
Silverstone
 A
points-scoring finish from Garry McCoy provided a measure of solace for Foggy
PETRONAS Racing at a challenging fifth round of the Superbike World Championship
at Silverstone, Great Britain. The Australian completed a gutsy second race in
13th place after crashing in the opening contest of the day, staged on the
shorter International circuit of the Northamptonshire venue. For team-mate Steve
Martin it was a weekend to forget. Having put up a typically determined display
in the first race, he was set to score two points until a cracked fuel rail
forced his retirement with one lap to go. Set-up difficulties in the second race
resulted in a 20th place finish for Steve, as James Toseland followed team-mate
Regis Laconi's first race example in completing a Ducati double victory.
Team manager Jack Valentine said: "While I am pleased Garry finished the
second race in the points, it has not been a particularly good weekend and
nobody is particularly happy, because that's not where we want to be finishing
races. However, mid-race in race two, Garry was lapping consistently as fast as
anyone outside the battle for first place and was as good as the opposition
through the speed traps. But there are still areas we need to keep working at
and everyone will continue to give everything they have got."
Garry, who was lying in 12th place when he crashed at the tight final chicane on
the eighth lap of the 28-lap first race, said: "I was stoked to finish a
race at last and finally score some points - it felt like a win after the start
we have had to the season with so much bad luck and so many breakdowns! In the
first race I just went into chicane maybe a couple of millimetres tighter than I
had on every other lap and the foot-peg hit the ripple strip, lifted up the rear
and I lost the front. It's the first time I have ever crashed for that reason
and, while it didn't shake me up, it didn't make me feel all that happy because
I knew I could have scored points in that race as well! I had an electrical
problem on the sighting lap for the second race so had to use the spare bike,
which had been more unstable at the rear earlier in the weekend. I pushed as
hard as I could but the bike was moving around a lot at the rear, which put more
wear on the rear tyre."
Steve said: "The engine was ultra-reliable all weekend but I just couldn't
come to terms with the circuit in time. I managed to improve all weekend but I
faded in the second race because my setting put more weight on the softer rear
tyre and it soon started to move around a lot. The first race was really hard
work and, although I tried lighter fork springs, I still suffered with a lot of
chatter. Misano is a circuit I like and go well at, so I am looking forward to
getting there for the next round, going further forward in the right direction
and scoring some points.
The FIM reversed their decision to impose a ride-through penalty for Garry's
first race. It was decided that the new rules governing drilled fairing holes
had not been officially ratified.
Misano
Steve Martin achieved
Foggy PETRONAS Racing's highest finish of the season with eighth place in the
second race at Misano. The Australian followed up an unfortunate 11th place in
the first race of round six of the Superbike World Championship with a ride
described by team owner Carl Fogarty as ‘incredible’. Foggy said: "I
honestly believe there are very few riders in the world who could have performed
as well Steve did today. He was incredible. He got good starts and that's the
key thing for us to be able to achieve decent results on a bike which is still
down on power on the rest of the field. It has been our best day of the season
without doubt, although it has been a disappointing weekend for Garry."
Garry McCoy was forced to retire from the first race with an engine failure and,
in race two, he high-sided while closing in on a points-scoring finish. Both
races were won by Regis Laconi although Troy Corser's two third places were
enough to maintain a 73-point advantage over Chris Vermeulen in the
championship.
In race one, Steve had gained ground from his grid position of eighth with a
stunning start and looked comfortable in seventh place when the race was red
flagged for oil on the track. Following a chaotic restart, which was aborted on
one occasion due to faulty lights, Steve dropped back down the field to an
initial aggregate position of 10th. In the searing Italian temperatures he was
able to maintain consistent lap times and was gaining ground on Karl Muggeridge
before the chequered flag. Another excellent start in race two found him up with
the leading pack and he again had Muggeridge in his sights in the closing
stages. Steve said: "I am really happy to have finished two races and to
have got some points in the bag. The bike felt as good as it has done for me and
I have now found a set-up, through adding more weight to the back, that I think
will work well at every circuit. I had one good start today, and two brilliant
starts. In the first race I could sit in seventh without any problem. It was a
shame about having to restart, but that's racing. My start for that second heat
was also good but I got chewed up on the first lap and it was difficult to gain
places after that. In the second race I stayed with the front guys for a couple
of laps but, as the tyre went off, I started to lose corner speed. The
reliability has been faultless all weekend and the team have worked really hard
for these results."
Garry endured a traumatic end to a traumatic weekend. While lying in 17th, and
stringing together consistent laps that matched some of the top ten finishers,
he missed out on a points-scoring finish when he high-sided going into the final
chicane on lap 19. His luck was no better in the opening race because, after
battling back from a track position of 24th, he was forced to retire with four
laps remaining while in 18th. He said: "I had a problem with the clutch in
the second race that was making it harder to back-shift. I guess I was pushing
too hard and high-sided after backing it in a bit too much into the last
chicane. I landed on my head but feel okay. I had been feeling pretty
comfortable until then. For the first race, my number one bike was just not
running properly and my number two bike seemed okay out of the pits but felt the
same as the other bike off the line. I just got my head down after that, hoping
to get into the points, until the engine failure."
Brands Hatch
Foggy PETRONAS Racing endured a day of disappointment in front of a packed crowd
for the eighth round of the Superbike World Championship at Brands Hatch.
Following two promising days to the season’s showpiece weekend, in which FPR
pair Steve Martin and Garry McCoy qualified in 10th and 11th, race day proved to
be an anti-climax for Carl Fogarty’s team. In front of a weekend attendance of
108,000 spectators, the Australian pair suffered a catalogue of misfortune as
Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga shared a race win apiece. Steve finished in the
points in 15th place in the first race but crashed out of the second with just
seven laps remaining following an incident with Japanese rider Norick Abe at
Druids. Garry nursed his bike round to complete the second race in 18th but was
only able to complete six laps of the first race after a broken hose clip caused
a water leakage.
Steve said: “I felt I was in front of Abe and three-quarters of the way round
the corner before he tried to get up the inside. It was a desperate move for
14th, it didn’t work and it took us both out of the race. The bike felt good
and I was running in the 1:28s, which was a similar pace to the battle for
fourth. And I was very pleased to have discovered something which cured the
chatter from the first race altogether. Two thirds of the way through the first
race my foot slipped off the peg, which hit me in the back of the calf, almost
ripping the peg off. That cost me a few places so I was disappointed that I
couldn’t have a better finish. I was also disappointed to not finish the
second race as I felt I could have scored points.”
Garry said: “The bike felt okay off the start of the first race and for the
first lap and then everyone started to pass me on the straights. There wasn’t
too much I could do about it so I just wanted to bring it home and assess race
distance on the rear tyre for race two. Then I had a couple of moments and
started to wonder what was going on. Then my foot slipped off the peg and I
could see water so I am just glad I stayed on the bike. My start to the second
race was all right but I was losing too much out of the corners and being passed
at almost every corner. And I had warning lights about the oil temperature and
pressure, which is not normally a healthy sign! I just didn’t seem to have any
pick-up from the bottom end of the rev range and the bike was backing in for the
first time all weekend. I don’t think the results reflected the progress we
made over the first two days.”
Euro
Speedway Lausitz Germany
Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Steve Martin and Garry McCoy experienced mixed
fortunes in the tenth round races of the Superbike World Championship at
Eurospeedway Lausitz, Germany. Both Australians produced battling rides, Steve
to finish ninth in the second race and Garry to come 11th in day’s opener. But
the pair’s efforts were not rewarded in their other races as Steve was forced
to retire from race one with a rear tyre pressure problem, while Garry suffered
an engine failure on the penultimate lap of the afternoon contest.
Lorenzo Lanzi, standing in for Regis Laconi on the factory Ducati, clinched his
first World Superbike win in race two and was leading race one before being
handed a ride-through penalty for running wide at the first corner. That race,
stopped two laps early because of light rain, was eventually won by Chris
Vermeulen who, having finished second to Lanzi in race two, closed the
championship gap on Troy Corser, who crashed while leading race two, to 60
points. Garry, starting from 17th on the grid, battled through the field to 11th
before the first race was ended two laps early due to light rain. After pulling
into the pitbox after six laps, Steve rejoined the race two laps later on a new
tyre and was able to set the eighth fastest lap of the race with a time of
1:41.024 before finishing in 18th. Steve was closing in on Max Neukirchner and
Norick Abe in the final stages of race two after picking off Frankie Chili.
Garry enjoyed a great start to the second race and’ having been up to 11th
place, was lying in 13th at the end of the lap before his retirement.
Steve said: “I am happy with the second race and we are definitely on the
improvement trail. It was good to get a result on the board and it was the sort
of result I thought we were capable of in the first race. I got a pretty good
start and the bike was handling really well. I could catch those in front of me
easily through the tight sections. I had seventh place in my sights and for half
the race I could see the leaders. I think we have made further strides forward
with the handling of the bike this weekend and I am already looking forward to
Imola. For the first few laps of the first race I felt as though I was going to
crash everywhere. I was lapping four seconds a lap slower than I had been doing
in qualifying so I pulled into the box, fitted a new rear tyre and got back to
the times that I had been doing all weekend.”
Garry said: “My jump off the start of the first race wasn’t too bad but
everyone bunches up at the second and third turns and I got stuck behind a
couple of Ducatis. Once I got past them, I then took Gimbert and Steve and then
pretty much had a lonely race from then on. At half-race distance the tyre
dropped off pretty badly, a cold tear causing lost traction going into and
coming out of corners. It wasn’t too much fun towards the end of the race and
was just a matter of staying on. I also got a good start to race two and was up
with the boys but even on the first lap I felt the engine slow down and I could
hear a noise for the whole race. So I was trying to bring it home when I felt it
go on the second last lap. The most disappointing thing was for it to go so late
in the race after we had put in all that effort.”
Martin re-signs for Foggy PETRONAS Racing
Carl Fogarty has re-signed Steve Martin for his Foggy PETRONAS
Racing team for the 2006 Superbike World Championship campaign.
The 36-year-old Australian’s skill and determination has impressed Fogarty
during a difficult season for FPR in a rejuvenated championship.
Carl said: “I am very pleased Steve is staying with us for next year. He is
very highly thought of within the sport and he is great to have around the
place. He always gives 100 per cent in both racing and during testing and
development of the bike. He is probably the best all-rounder we have had riding
the PETRONAS FP1.”
Steve said: “I am really happy to stay with FPR for next year, especially
after the amount of progress that we have made. We are now consistently in the
top ten and I believe we have not finished improving the bike yet. The guys that
I have been working with have showed me a whole new level of professionalism and
that has been a major influence in my decision.”
Steve has achieved five podium finishes and three pole positions in his 133 race
starts since his debut in the championship in 1988. The highlight of this
campaign was qualifying in second place on the Phillip Island grid, just six
hundredths of a second off pole position.
Martin unscathed as season ends on a
low for FPR
Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s season ended on a low note when Steve Martin
was involved in a multiple pile-up at the start of the second race at
Magny-Cours, France. He was unable to re-start that race, leaving the team
without a race finish at the final round of the Superbike World Championship, as
Chris Vermeulen and Lorenzo Lanzi shared the celebrations.
The day started badly for Steve when a technical problem in morning warm-up
forced him to use his number two bike for the first race. When oil was spotted
on his belly-pan as he dropped through the field, he was pulled in by the team
after 10 laps. Back on his favoured bike for the second race, Steve was the innocent victim of
a spectacular crash at the first corner and was lucky to escape uninjured.
Carl Fogarty described his team’s fortunes at the final weekend as a ‘kick
in the teeth’. He said: “After how we have been doing in the last few
rounds, this last round was a disaster. It’s a kick in the teeth and it hurts.
It is going to be hard to bridge the gap to the front-runners but the engine
development team are confident they can do that over the winter.”
Steve said: “It just seemed to be one of those weekends when things went
against us because we all worked our hardest here. At the start of the second
race I was just about to tip in left while flat out in third when I saw Bussei
suddenly come right. I ran into the back of him and took a big whack in the
chest but thankfully I have walked away relatively in one piece. So I am already
looking forward to getting into off-season testing. We know what we need to
improve and that’s what we will be working on. People were starting to take
notice of us in the second half of the season and I am sure we can start next
year stronger than we are now.”
Crash injury proves fortunate
for Martin
Steve Martin’s
involvement in the spectacular crash at the final race of the World Superbike
season proved to be a blessing in disguise for the Foggy PETRONAS Racing rider.
The Australian received a blow to the kidney in the five-bike shunt at
Magny-Cours, France, and further examination of the organ at a Swiss hospital
revealed the presence of a malignant tumour.
Following an operation to remove the kidney last week, Steve has now been given
the all-clear to target a comeback for the team’s test session in Qatar in
December. Steve said: “It was really lucky that I suffered the injury or the
tumour might have gone undetected. I didn’t feel too bad after the accident
but then started to pass blood two days later. From the start the doctors felt
there was something more to it than just the bleeding, but didn’t say anything
until an MRI scan confirmed their suspicions. It probably wouldn’t have even
bled had it not been for the tumour. When the kidney was removed the tumour was
found to be malignant so I have been quite fortunate. After the accident I
wanted to kiss the rider who caused the accident with my fist, but now I want to
kiss him with my lips! I now have to undergo regular checks but the doctors are
confident there will be no recurrence. In fact, it’s a relief that the kidney
wasn’t lost as a direct result of the accident, as that might have played on
my mind. I feel great and I have been assured that the loss of the kidney will
not affect my performance in any way. In fact I am keen to come back stronger
than ever.”
Steve will miss the team’s test in Valencia next week, when new team-mate
Craig Jones will have his first ride on the PETRONAS FP1.
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