Guy Martin rules Oliver's Mount again with five-star show

GUY Martin brought down the curtain on his 2012 road racing season with five wins from six at Oliver's Mount and admitted: "That was mint."

The Kirmington speedster took the coveted Steve Henshaw International Gold Cup for an incredible eighth time at the Scarborough meeting.

And his only blip came in the final leg of the David Jefferies' 600cc race, where he was forced to retire from the lead with an intermittent electrical problem, robbing him of a clean sweep.

But that wasn't about to spoil Martin's weekend, with the 30-year-old also roaring to glory in both legs of the Darran Lyndsay Trophy, the David Jeffries Supersport race and a 600cc Supersport heat.

That made it three Superbike and two Supersport wins in total, while also delivering Tyco Suzuki's first ever win in the premier class at the North Yorkshire event.

"It was a great day and nice to get my hands back on the Gold Cup for the eighth time," said Martin, who won the trophy on seven successive occasions between 2003 and 2009.

"I enjoyed the battle with (John) McGuinness and Co for the win – which made it that little bit more special – and to give Tyco Suzuki their first win is mint.

"The boys always put in a big effort for me so they really deserve it and the big Suzuki never missed a beat.

"I didn't know the team had never won one. I thought they were certain to have done that with (Ian) Lougher or (David) Jefferies, so yeah it was nice to be the first TAS rider to do that."

He continued:"We almost had the clean sweep only for what I believe to be a tilt switch problem that caused the bike to cut out in the last race.

"She was grand when I got her back up onto the fat of the tyre, but it was too risky to take a chance with it. We'll be happy with our lot – five wins is not to be sniffed at."

The racing at Oliver's Mount has been dominated by Martin since his debut there in 2002.

His first three Gold Cup victories were on privately-entered Suzuki machinery, before he added a solitary Yamaha win in 2006 with the AIM team.

The daredevil then enjoyed a hat-trick on Honda machinery with Shaun Muir's SMR team, before sitting out the 2010 race due to grip issues when supported by Wilson Craig.

Martin was forced to miss the event again last year after a blood infection left him to hospital.

"I had a bit of EP90 oil in there or something like that," he added. "It was real bad, I couldn't even ride my push-bike for a month.

"By 'eck, I thought I was only going to hospital for a check up and they kept me in for four days on an IV drip.

"It's not the job at all, especially as I love the Gold Cup and was looking to get back on the top step."

But following his Ulster Grand Prix superbike success last month, Martin was determined to reclaim his crown as the King of Oliver's Mount – and end his year in style.

"That's another bloody season over," he said. "Where do they go boy; where do they go?"

"Years ago a '250' was the job as they all thought the circuit was too small for a Superbike, but now you need a Superbike to win. We've two years' experience with the Suzuki now and we've made big improvements with the tyres thanks to Pirelli.

"I don't normally like start and stop places and that's really what Scarborough is.

"But I like the trees and it's a proper road race. Half the width of Cookstown and more importantly — half an hour up the road from me. Yeah, proper job."

PHILIP Neill hailed a "fantastic weekend" for Tyco Suzuki and Guy Martin at Oliver's Mount.

The team celebrated their maiden victory in the flagship Steve Henshaw International Gold Cup earlier this month.

And team boss Neill was delighted with their weekend's work in Scarborough.

"What a fantastic weekend for Guy and everyone involved with Tyco Suzuki," he said.

"It's a great way for him to finish his season.

"As the saying goes, 'you're only as good as your last race meeting' and that will surely give him a big boost after winning the Ulster Grand Prix Superbike race.

"We've been looking to get to Scarborough this past three or four years and challenge for the Gold Cup but for one reason or another it never happened.

"It's nice to finally win it, especially for our new sponsors Tyco in their first year with us.

"We certainly didn't expect to be as dominant and I wouldn't want to take the shine off such a tremendous performance, but it's a real shame the 600 starting cutting out in the last race.

"We would love to have won the David Jefferies' Trophy as he meant a lot to us as a rider.

"But it was a great weekend nonetheless.

"Well done to the whole team and thanks to Tyco, Suzuki and all our other loyal associate sponsors for their support all year."