Martin’s Ulster GP hopes dashed by weather Kirmington’s Guy Martin will have to wait another year to add to his haul of five Ulster Grand Prix wins after Saturday’s event was abandoned due to torrential rain hitting the Ulster region. The high-speed Dundrod circuit was also hit by swirling mist and gusting winds and it came as no surprise when the meeting was eventually cancelled. Organisers had already delayed proceedings from their original morning start time but when it was clear there would be no let up in the weather, they had little option other than to cancel the races. With bad weather earlier in the week, Martin was already kicking his heels after the cancellation of the Dundrod 150 Superbike race and although he looked strong on the Hydrex Bike Animal Honda’s in all classes in qualifying, it was all to no avail. After leaving the refuge of the team truck to inspect the course, Guy commented: “There’s not a lot to say really, other than bugger! The weather was just awful today and when I went round in a car to have a look at how the course was holding up, it was obvious that there would be no racing. There were rivers running across the course in places and visibility was also poor so it just wasn’t happening – the rain just wouldn’t stop.” “It’s a massive disappointment for everyone, not least the club who didn’t deserve that, and all the fans who were still out there huddling under their umbrellas, so I sincerely hope we’ll be back here next year for another go. I love the Dundrod course and the bikes were working excellently in practice so I reckon we would have been in a shout in all of the races. It wasn’t to be though so we’ll just have to move on and get stuck in at Cadwell. It’s my local circuit so I’ll be looking for some good results to get things going again.” Guy will be racing next in round 9 of the British Superbike Championship with the meeting being held this coming Bank Holiday weekend, August 23-25. More, from a press release issued by Conor Cummins’ publicist: Disappointing week for Cummins Manxman Conor Cummins endured a difficult seven days of racing last week with a crash at the British Superstock round at Knockhill at the beginning and the cancellation of the Ulster Grand Prix at the end. The 22-year old Ramsey rider was looking to extend his run of points scoring finishes in the British Superstock Championship at the Scottish venue and although he was only 11th overall in qualifying, he was 4th quickest in the wet and with rain forecast for race day hopes were high of at least a top six finish. However, these hopes soon evaporated on the NCT Vanfit Yamaha when a third lap spill meant an early demise. It was then over to the Ulster Grand Prix where he was reunited with a trio of McAdoo Kawasaki’s for the Ulster GP Superbike, Supersport and Superstock races. He soon put the Knockhill disappointment behind him and, having made a successful debut on the McAdoo machines at July’s Southern 100, Conor was immediately back on the pace. Despite the cancellation of Wednesday’s practice sessions at the Dundrod circuit, Conor soon got to grips with the 7.4-mile circuit once more and he qualified in the top 8 on Thursday for all of his classes. Particularly impressive was his Superstock lap of 128.231mph, which was inside the class lap record and only one second adrift of the pace setting Bruce Anstey. However, it was all to no avail as Saturday’s race schedule was abandoned due to torrential rain, gusting winds and mist hitting the Ulster region. Speaking about his week, Conor said: ‘It’s been a really tough week and what promised so much has delivered nothing. I felt really comfortable in the wet at Knockhill but it was one of those days where anyone could have gone down at any time and, unfortunately, it happened to me. I’m still in the top ten of the championship though so, hopefully, I can build on that in the last four rounds,’ ‘The Ulster was equally difficult although on Thursday afternoon, everything was coming together. The McAdoo Kawasaki’s were working brilliantly around Dundrod and the lap times I was doing were very competitive so I felt very confident going into Saturday’s races. Sadly, the weather put paid to that and it was a huge disappointment for everyone concerned with the meeting. The weather was really horrendous and there was no way we could have raced.’ Conor’s next outing will be at Cadwell Park this weekend where he will be competing in Round 9 of the British Superstock Championship.