Simon Says, in association with CIA Insurance for UK motorcycle insurance. WELL quite a lot has happened since I last spoke to you all. Let’s start with my last column which was really just a view point from our side regarding Guy Martin. Guy and I have no problem with it and in fact he is joining our team for a test at Silverstone ahead of his Ulster Grand Prix campaign. We are going to help him with his 600 suspension set up and it will be a first run for his Superbike since the massive crash in the Isle of Man. What really amazes me is some of the comments from so called race fans on these forums. I can only conclude you either don’t have a good grasp of the English language or in some cases just have your own agendas. For those people I suggest you read it again and take your time and realise I did not in fact slate Guy at all, I just made some observations on how we could all get him to the point he wants’ to reach, i.e. winning at the TT. I suppose I should take heart that it is not personal because when Wayne Gardner offered the opinion that he felt the TT had run its course due to the constant fatal crashes most years he got slated just as much by these so called race fans. Whatever you all may think, Wayne was a great rider and a World Champion in a golden era for the sport and anyone would actually struggle to make a good case against most of the things he said. Why don’t you all get some courage and name yourselves like Wayne and I did when we made comments instead of hiding behind pseudonyms – or if you don’t have the courage for that then just shut up and keep your opinion to yourselves. Moving on from that Misano was a great race for us with Eugene wining his fifth race of the season to retake the championship lead for the first time since round one. The fact that Eugene, Kenan and Joan have been so dominant this year has made it hard for us to make up for the crash in Portimao way back at the second round. There are now five rounds left and I know we have the rider, bike and team to go all the way. That said fair play to Kenan – he has only won two races but has never been outside the top three all year. Indeed the only time another rider has been on the podium this year was when Eugene crashed in Portimao from a certain top three and had a bad race in Valencia and finished fifth. Lascorz was also weak in Kyalami allowing Chas Davies to grab a podium for Triumph. Other than that it’s been the same top three, just a matter of which order. Brno was not a great race for us last year but we have an improved bike package now so I fully expect Eugene to challenge for another win. Sofuoglu was really bad there last year finishing only ninth, however I expect him also to step it up but can he match the pace of Eugene and Lascorz round there? Time will tell! The grid may be thinner this year but the pace of the top three has in most cases been significantly faster than the times set by Eugene and Cal Crutchlow last year. I must admit I did not think this would happen as much as it has but it only goes to show we have moved it on a level but also how much Ten Kate and Kawasaki have as well. If you want to be on the podium in World Supersport you really have got to put in a World class ride. I look forward to the wild cards from the British Supersport Championship riding at Silverstone; I think they will get quite a shock as to how much they will need to lift their game to get near the big three. Looking ahead as we are now with our 2011 plans we have looked at Moto 2 and World Superbike. We are working flat out now getting the budget together to take Eugene to the next level. I would love him to stay with our team and take it as a compliment to our whole team that he is really keen to do this if we can sort out the right package together for all of us. At this time we are looking to take him to World Superbike more than Moto 2 as I think he has what it takes to make this step as Cal had done. I know Kenan struggled but Eugene is very good at adapting his style to suit the bike he rides and I believe he will be able to do this on a Superbike quickly. We have gained some Superbike experience with Guy Martin’s TT bike this year and I am very confident we as a team can make the next step up and show well inside the top 10. In Moto 2 it is hard to see where we can get the support to run at the right level to compete at the front with the deals we are looking at now. However I would not completely rule it out yet, watch this space and let’s see where we end up. Cheers Simon The June 21 edition of Simon Says that Buckmaster is referring to: Simon Says, in association with CIA Insurance for UK motorcycle insurance. NOW, some people may wonder why I would comment on the Isle of Man TT races being the Team Manager for Parkalgar Honda in World Supersport and the answer is simple; our company PTR which runs the Parkalgar team tuned and supplied the bikes to the Wilson Craig Team and his rider Guy Martin. First off, it was a pleasure to work with Wilson Craig, he is a very shrewd operator who knows his stuff on road racing inside and out. He knows what he wants and has the means to achieve it and I sincerely hope that PTR has a long and successful relationship with him. It was out first year together and we learnt a lot about each other but I think we can win many races in the future. A second place in the Supersport race is a good result for Guy. Watching the DVD it is clear that the bike was more than competitive, overtaking just about anything on the straight. We’d expect that though because we produce what we believe is the best Supersport bike in the world. The Superbike was a new venture for us and while we built it to a specification below what we would use in WSB or BSB, which is necessary for a TT machine, it too was also more than competitive. Guy was challenging for the lead in the second Superbike race after leading on lap one when he crashed and would have finished second in the opener if it hadn’t been for a time penalty. That’s impressive for our first go at the island and I am proud of the PTR team involved well done Alan and Mark. To be fair we would have liked a win but Guy Martin has yet to win around the island and 2010 was not going to be his year either but even that I think is fixable. Guy is a quick rider who is immensely popular but he is flawed, he needs to listen to some advice if he wants to win at the TT as he says he does. I had numerous conversations with him and he listened but then completely ignored everything we agreed on. He didn’t listen and didn’t win; unless he changes his attitude he will never win. In fact when he talks in public, as he did in an Irish Racer Magazine recent feature, the way he relays his last conversation with me is the opposite of the truth. First thing Guy needs to learn is that the rules apply to him as much as anyone else. He may cultivate a “just another one of the boys” image and have legions of admirers but it is not true and distracts him from the racing. How many of the boys have Aston Martins for a start not many. How many race at the TT and have credible chances to win again not many. It’s all a facade. He needs to stop being distracted and lift his professionalism. Instead of being a TV star and courting publicity 24×7, he should be concentrating on racing and what’s needed to win. Get his focus and concentration into racing, not promoting his name and money-spinning deals. At the TT he made a tyre company choice based more on financial gain to him than maybe the best tyre choice and paid the price. Once again he needs to drop the ‘I am only interested in racing my bikes and sleeping in the van act’ and actually show that winning is the most important thing to him; as they say actions speak louder than words. He has got better but still has another step to go regarding leaving the bikes to the mechanics and not to try to be the crew chief. Going back to his feature in Irish Racer Magazine he used unacceptable bad language and criticised a member of PTR staff and that upset me deeply. First, it was unprofessional and secondly the member of staff he criticised is one of the major reasons he scored as high at the TT this year as he did. PTR is challenging for a World Championship for the second year in a row and has nothing to prove never a winner at the TT Guy Martin still has it all to prove. Another unprofessional move by Guy was to disrespect the Supersport podium ceremony and then follow that up by being downright rude and ignorant in the press conference. Eating and drinking while you are being interviewed has no excuse but then again this is all part of the problem that is stopping him from winning at the TT he is not approaching it seriously or with a professional attitude, instead spending far too much time promoting this image of what type of person he is. Come on, under all of this Guy you can be a genuine person so just do it! And there is a serious point here because if he keeps up his unprofessional approach then he may never win a TT. Not only will his own preparations be flawed but there will be very few teams capable of fielding a winning bike that will want to deal with him. Mind you that might be the best thing for him because then he would have to buy and run his own team by himself and then he can do what he likes. The one thing he is unlikely to do in that situation is win… Now Guy may get annoyed with me for saying all of this but it is simply the constructive truth and if he listens then he will improve his chances of winning enormously. I for one hope he does listen, smartens up his act and wins many TT races in the future and I’d be happy to help him achieve that. Off to Misano next for the World Supersport Championship catch up with you all after that. Simon