Tyco Suzuki’s Guy Martin scored three wins at the 62nd Steve Henshaw International Gold Cup meeting at Scarborough [Saturday] aboard the team’s GSX-R1000 and GSX-R600. Much to the delight of Tyco General Manager and Vice President [EMEA] Phil Dashey – who was visiting the North Yorkshire circuit for the very first time – Martin won the first leg of the Darran Lindsay Trophy on his GSX-R1000 Superbike by five seconds from Dean Harrison and Jamie Hamilton with Michel Dunlop fourth and Bruce Anstey fifth; both almost half a minute behind the Tyco Suzuki rider. He then took another comfortable victory in heat one of the David Jefferies 600cc Cup with a winning margin just over five seconds from Anstey with Ivan Lintin third. The Lincolnshire rider then took another David Jefferies Supersport race heat on his GSX-R600, this time by six seconds over Dean Harrison with Michael Pearson third. His main rivals William Dunlop and Bruce Anstey were fifth and sixth respectively. Guy Martin: “Yeah I can’t complain. Three starts and three wins and I’m enjoying riding my bikes. I feel comfortable enough and I know I can ride harder tomorrow if pushed on both Suzukis. We’ve got a great feel from the front end of both bikes, which is what you need here as it’s all stop start; a bit more like a short circuit than the likes of the TT or Ulster GP, but all’s good. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and of course the Gold Cup is the big one.” Mark McCarville – Team Crew Chief: “Guy’s in great form and he’s looked very comfortable all day in practice, qualifying and the three races on both GSX-R machines. It’s forecast that the weather could take a turn for the worst tomorrow, but he’s equally as happy wet or dry on the Pirelli tyres. It’s good to see him so relaxed but he’s well up for it.” Sunday’s race programme at Scarborough begins with the second leg of the Darran Lindsay Trophy at 1pm. More, from another press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Tyco Suzuki’s Guy Martin wrapped-up his 2012 international road racing season in dominating style in the UK this weekend with five race wins at Oliver’s Mount in Scarborough and most-importantly, the GSX-R-mounted Lincolnshire rider raised aloft the coveted Steve Henshaw International Gold Cup trophy earlier today [Sunday]. It’s the first time the trophy has been won by Northern Ireland-based TAS Racing, much to the delight of team manager Philip Neill, and but for an intermittent electrical problem that forced Martin to retire from the lead of the David Jefferies’ Supersport race, it could have been six wins from six starts. Guy Martin: “It’s been a great day and nice to get my hands back on the Gold Cup for the eighth time. I enjoyed the battle with 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. We almost, 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.” Philip Neill – Team Manager: “What a fantastic weekend for Guy and everyone involved with Tyco Suzuki. 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 last month. “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, as we’d love to have won the David Jefferies’ Trophy as he meant a lot to us as a rider. But 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.” More, from a press release issued by KMR Kawasaki: Hamilton gives KMR Kawasaki success at Oliver’s Mount KMR Kawasaki brought their 2012 road racing season to an end at the weekend with both team owner Ryan Farquhar and Jamie Hamilton taking to the track at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough, the latter taking three top five finishes on the ZX-10R Kawasaki. For recently retired Ryan, it was very much an emotional affair as he completed three parade laps with a number of his fellow racers to thank the crowd for their support during his illustrious 18-year career which saw him record no less than 98 race victories at Scarborough alone. Having brought over all 7 of his KMR machines, Ryan was joined on track by TT legend John McGuinness, Ian Hutchinson, Michael Dunlop and Guy Martin as well as by Jamie and Robbie Silvester with all six delighted to ride Ryan’s bikes and pay tribute to him. It was business as usual for Jamie though as he took part in both day’s racing although he was forced to miss both Supertwins races around the narrow, woodland circuit after a spill during Saturday morning’s qualifying session – although uninjured, it wasn’t possible to repair the bike in time. Instead, he focused on the three Superbike races and the weekend couldn’t have started any better on the ZX-10R Superstock machine with a superb third place in the opening leg of the Darran Lindsay Superbike trophy, which was held in perfect, sunny conditions. Although he had to give best to Guy Martin and Dean Harrison he duly kept Michael Dunlop and Bruce Anstey behind him for an excellent podium finish. Sunday saw cooler, cloudier conditions and a brilliant start to the second leg of the Superbike saw Jamie slot into second place behind Harrison. A lap later Martin was also through but Jamie was experiencing brake problems which was all too plain to see when he overshot Farm Bends and with the ongoing issue, John McGuinness pushed him back to fourth on the fifth lap. Nevertheless, aided by a fastest lap of 1m46.159s, the seventh fastest lap ever around the circuit, he was able to keep hold of fourth, comfortably ahead of Anstey and Ian Lougher. The feature International Gold Cup race was the final event for Jamie and he slotted into fifth at the end of the first lap, both him and Dunlop losing time when Michael Pearson highsided in front of them at the Memorial. This was how the positions remained and, despite having changed the brake pads in between the races, Jamie again had problems on the brakes and was forced to again take the slip road at Farm Bends. He kept going though and was rewarded with a solid fifth place for his third top five finish of another successful weekend. Speaking afterwards, team owner Ryan commented; “It’s definitely been an emotional day, probably more so than I’d imagined, but I was really pleased to have been able to do the three parade laps so a big thank you to Peter Hillaby and the Auto 66 Club for allowing me to do it and for all their support over the years. I’ve always enjoyed coming to Scarborough so it was perhaps fitting I brought the curtain down on my career here. It was great to see such a big crowd and hear them applauding me so a big thank you to them too whilst it was also a pleasure to see all the boys out on my bikes. I’ve enjoyed some great battles with them, and other riders like Keith Amor, over the years and it was quite unique seeing rivals out on my bikes – I felt very privileged and humble for sure.” “On the racing side of things, Jamie had another strong weekend and although it was shame he had to miss the two Supertwins races, where a podium and/or win would have been on the cards, he had three fine rides in the Superbike races. Despite the brake problems, he gave it his all and his lap times were excellent whilst beating Michael and Bruce is a fine achievement so it was a fine way to end his year.” “Life’s going to very different for me now but I really want to stay involved in the sport so will doing all I can to keep KMR Kawasaki going and at the forefront of the road racing results. That’s my goal now so, fingers crossed, I’ll be in the paddocks in 2013. Finally, I’d just like to say thank you to everyone that’s supported me during my career, it’s meant an awful lot and I’m incredibly grateful for everything.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Team Kawasaki SRC’s Julien Da Costa crowned French Superbike Champion Newsflash, 17 September 2012 Julien Da Costa is crowned the 2012 French Superbike Champion after finishing second both races on the Albi circuit in the south-western part of France. After having had an incredible season with Kawasaki SRC Racing Team, Da Costa can now look back at 10 victories and 5 second places In 16 races. Julien Da Costa: ‘I’m very happy for the job done this year, even though I couldn’t win the final two races this weekend. When I look back at the results, I nearly can’t believe we’ve done such an incredible season. I would like to thank everyone at the Kawasaki SRC team and especially Isabelle and Gilles Stafler. Gregory and I have given them the results that they deserve. It’s really amazing to consider that we have won every race or championship that we’ve been through. It hasn’t been a perfect year, no, even more: We can say it’s been a dream year! I hope that everyone at the Kawasaki headquarters will appreciate these results. All the ‘Green people’ can be proud. In a way, it’s a result of their work as well.’ Gilles Stafler : ‘I know Julien very well and I’m sure tonight there was a bit of frustration In him because he didn’t win any of the two last races. But I’m sure we can be proud of what all of us have been able to achieve this year. I’m really pleased for all my team and mechanics, Kawasaki and all the people from Pirelli who have been supporting us very strongly during the season. We will celebrate the title the way it deserves!’ Grégory Leblanc : ‘My target was to win both races and I did just that. So I’m really pleased tonight. I’ve won 10 races this year and that’s a good result. As Julien said, it was something like a dream year for the Kawasaki SRC team. I hope we’ll be able to repeat this performance next year!’ This year the Kawasaki SRC team has won every endurance race and championship it took part in. Final classification of 2012 the French FSBK Championship: Superbike 1) Julien DA COSTA – KAWASAKI NINJA ZX-10R – 361 Pts 2) Sébastien GIMBERT – BMW – 319 Pts 3) Guillaume DIETRICH – BMW – 219 Pts 4) Vincent PHILIPPE – Suzuki – 196 Pts 5) Mathieu GINES – Honda – 154 Pts Supersport 1) Grégory LEBLANC – KAWASAKI NINJA ZX-6R – 337 Pts 2) Axel MAURIN – Yamaha – 205 Pts 3) Étienne MASSON – KAWASAKI ZX-6R – 188 Pts 4) David PERRET – Yamaha – 180 Pts 5) Denis BOUAN – Yamaha – 171 Pts More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Team Suzuki’s Josh Waters claimed his second Australian Superbike Championship aboard the GSX-R1000 at Queensland Raceway’s final round of the 2012 season at the weekend. Waters played it safe on his way to this year’s crown, finishing fifth overall for the weekend with 4-6 results, adding the trophy to his maiden championship picked up in 2009 as a rookie in the premier class with Team Suzuki. This year marked Waters’ first full season completed since his inaugural title, capping off what has been a hard-fought campaign to win the championship by a slim margin of 13.5-points. “It’s an awesome feeling and the result that everybody was aiming for at the start of the season,” 25-year-old Waters said. “It’s really nice to get it done, so a big thanks to the team and everybody who has made this possible. “In the last couple of rounds I haven’t put it all on the line, just conserving my lead and playing it smart because the championship is what they remember in the record books. “My Team Suzuki GSX-R1000 has been great all season, it’s my fourth year on the bike and I’m obviously used to it and am very comfortable on it. The team has done a great job, so it’s great to go ahead and win the championship for everybody this season.” Team mate Ben Attard was in form throughout the weekend in his final home round of the season, the Queenslander satisfied with his performance to finish fourth overall. Attard was fifth in the opening 17-lap race, before third in the second outing sealed him fifth in the standings during his debut season as part of Team Suzuki. “It was definitely good to finish the series on the podium in race two on Sunday, because we started the year on the box as well,” Attard explained. “It was obviously a long time in between those results, but it’s nice to finish the championship on a high and I came close to the lap record. The bike was awesome, so thank you to Team Suzuki.” Team Volvo Group Suzuki’s four-time New Zealand Superbike Champion Robbie Bugden suffered a frustrating finish to the season, however a sixth place overall with 6-5 race results netted the experienced Queenslander sixth in the championship. “It was a pretty tough weekend, to be honest,” Bugden reflected. “We had some troubles with the number one bike on Saturday and had to miss the second qualifying session. It just set us back a session and we never really did recover from that. We’ll put it behind us and look forward to the next events coming up.” Brodie Waters clinched third in the Supersport championship for Team Suzuki aboard the team’s lone GSX-R600, but came ever so close to regaining the title for the team. Waters claimed Superpole and entered race day with a half-point lead before a mechanical gremlin in the opening race ultimately ruled him out of contention. Waters bounced back to second in the final race of the season and earned the final podium position in the series, remaining upbeat with his performances during the second half of 2012 despite the unfortunate turn of events on Sunday. “We got progressively stronger as the year went on and the last few rounds were really good,” Waters said. “Coming into the last round we were in a good position to take the title, and after qualifying we felt like we had good speed in Queensland. “It was great to get pole, then during the first race I felt like we had the pace to win. Unfortunately with three laps to go we had a mechanical, forcing me out of the race while I was running closely behind the leader in second. In race two I wasn’t quite as comfortable on the spare bike, but second was a decent result. “Now I’ll head over to England tomorrow for a month to do the last three rounds of British Supersport Championship. I would like to show some of the speed that I’ve had in Australia lately and try to run up front, but if I can get top-10 finishes I’ll be happy.” Team Suzuki manager Phil Tainton is ecstatic with the team’s combined efforts throughout the year, proud the regain the nation’s premier road racing title for the first time since 2009 with Waters. “I’m really happy with the weekend and the championship,” Tainton said. “I couldn’t be happier with taking out the championship. Josh knew what he had to do, although he was a little bit nervous going in. He played it extremely conservative and that’s all that he had to do after a brilliant season. “Brodie came so close to the Supersport title, climbing back in the latter stages of the year. I’m extremely happy with the way Brodie has been performing in these recent rounds. Ben came within a thousandth of a second of the lap record in race two, got back on the podium for the race, and it’s nice to see him comfortable on the bike. Robbie had dramas of his own during the weekend, but apart from that he showed how well he is riding once again in 2012. It’s been a great season for all of our riders.” Team Suzuki will now turn its attention to the non-championship MotoGP support races at Phillip Island in Victoria on October 26-28th. The team’s final event will take place at the Australian Endurance Championship, also at Phillip Island, on December 1-2nd as it defends its title. Superbike Round Results: 1. Jamie STAUFFER 51 2. Wayne MAXWELL 38 3. Glenn ALLERTON 37 4. Ben ATTARD (Team Suzuki) 34 5. Joshua WATERS (Team Suzuki) 32 6. Robert BUGDEN (Team Volvo Group Suzuki) 31 7. Ben HENRY (Suzuki) 27 8. Beau BEATON (Suzuki) 27 Superbike Championship Standings (after 7 of 7 rounds): 1. Joshua WATERS (Team Suzuki) 279.5 2. Wayne MAXWELL 266 3. Jamie STAUFFER 251.5 4. Glenn ALLERTON 235 5. Ben ATTARD (Team Suzuki) 212.5 6. Robert BUGDEN (Team Volvo Group Suzuki) 211 7. Ben HENRY (Suzuki) 174.5 8. Scott CHARLTON (Suzuki) 159 9. Brodie WATERS (Team Suzuki) 45 10. Beau BEATON (Suzuki) 40 Supersport Round Results: 1. Mitchell CARR 40 2. Chris QUINN 36 3. Glenn SCOTT 35 4. Brendan CLARKE 35 5. Levi DAY 30 6. Anthony QUINN 28 7. Josh HOOK 25 8. Adam SENIOR 25 9. James HOOGENBOEZEM 23 10. Brodie WATERS (Team Suzuki) 21 Supersport Championship Standings (after 5 of 5 rounds): 1. Mitchell CARR 181.5 2. Josh HOOK 163 3. Brodie WATERS (Team Suzuki) 162 4. Glenn SCOTT 157 5. Chris QUINN 130.5 6. Levi DAY 125 7. Adam SENIOR 111.5 8. Brendan CLARKE 90.5 9. Anthony QUINN 65.5 10. Mitch LEVY (Suzuki) 65.5