Fans favourite Guy Martin took a hard-fought Supersport victory at Saturday’s KDM Hire Cookstown 100 Road Races in Northern Ireland on his Tyco Suzuki GSX-R600. Martin also kept his one 100% podium record intact for 2013 – after winning last weekend’s Scarborough Spring Cup – with a pair of second placed finishes in the Open and Superbike encounters at the County Tyrone venue in front of a sun-baked audience estimated at 15,000. Unfortunately Tyco Suzuki team manager Philip Neill wasn’t so lucky, breaking a collarbone and dislocating two fingers in an early morning Mountain Bike crash, but still arrived at the Orritor venue to enjoy the Supersport victory celebrations. Guy Martin: “I knew I was comfortable in the Supersport race when I saw ‘Plus Four’ on my pitboard, but probably backed off a bit too much and let Dunlop back into the race, what with slowing down and a bit of a mistake. He’s a good old boy and we had a good race but he did hit me on the last lap. I’m just glad I was able to hang in for the win. In that last Superbike race I really couldn’t have given any more. I think I led for four laps and I also went under my old lap record, but I can’t knock the man – I was just beaten by a slightly better rider on the day. We still have a few things we want to try with the Superbike before the North West but I’ve already spoken to Philip about them today and we’re on it.” Philip Neill – Team Manager: “It’s our local race and we always enjoy being here and supporting the Cookstown and District Club. We come here for one reason and that’s for a run out, but I think Guy put on a great show today – he rode hard. The Supersport win was a bit unexpected being up against a World Supersport specification bike, but all credit to Michael in the Cookstown 100 race. To break the lap record three times in one race – well there’s not much you can say only congratulate the lad.” KDM Hire Cookstown 100: 1 Michael Dunlop (Honda); 2 Guy Martin (Tyco Suzuki) +2.503sec; 3 Derek Sheils (Honda) +6.863. O2 Cookstown Open Race: 1 Michael Dunlop (Honda) 2 Guy Martin (Tyco Suzuki) +3.904sec; 3 Derek Sheils (Honda) +8.719. Cookstown DC Supersport: 1 Guy Martin (Tyco Suzuki); 2 Michael Dunlop (Honda) 0.119sec; 3 Dean Harrison (Yamaha) +10.089. More, from a press release issued by KMR Kawasaki: KMR Kawasaki powered by Vauxhall (Northern Ireland dealers) Double success at Cookstown for KMR Kawasaki The KMR Kawasaki powered by Vauxhall (Northern Ireland dealers) team made a winning start to the Irish Road Race Championship season with two race wins at Saturday’s Cookstown 100 meeting. Jamie Hamilton took the win in the Supertwins race to maintain his 100% winning record in the class this year whilst Connor Behan took a debut victory both for the team and on the Irish roads with an excellent win in the Junior Support class. With good, dry conditions all around the 2.1-mile Orritor circuit, Hamilton dominated the Supertwins race to win by over seven seconds, adding to the two race wins he took at Scarborough one week ago and he also had a good day in the other classes. Riding the Kawasaki ZX-10R in the two Superbike races, the 22-year old took a strong seventh in the Open race and improved to an excellent fifth in the Grand Final, the feature race of the day. He also overcame handling problems in the Supersport 600cc race to record a solid eighth place. Behan also impressed as he had his first ever race on the Irish public roads and, after a race long battle with Mark Hanna, he was able to make a dream start for KMR Kawasaki in the Junior Support Championship with an excellent race win. Meanwhile, he also had a good outing on the 636cc Kawasaki in the Senior Support race where, despite having to start from the back row of the third wave, he came through the field to take an excellent seventh place. Brian McCormack was also in action for the KMR Kawasaki team as he made his first outing on the team’s Kawasaki ZX-10R and having been forced to retire from the opening Superbike race with clutch problems, he bounced back to take a more than useful eighth in the Grand Final. Speaking afterwards, a pleased team boss Ryan Farquhar said; “All in all, it’s been a very good day and start to our Irish Road Race Championship season and I’m particularly pleased to have maintained our 100% record in the Supertwins races. Jamie had a faultless ride in the main Supertwins race and was in command throughout whilst he also had two good, steady rides on the 1000cc bike. His ride in the main race was especially good as there was not only a lot of experienced riders in front of him, but also behind too. The 600 wasn’t handling the best for him but he still brought the bike home for a good eighth to ensure he had four top eight finishes from four starts.” “Connor was having his second meeting with the team but his first in Ireland and to win first time out in the Junior Support race was excellent. To put it into context, his pace would have meant he would have finished seventh in the main Supertwins race whilst his fastest lap was only 0.8s slower than Michael Dunlop’s so we’re really happy with how he’s performing. Starting from so far back in the Senior Support race was always going to be a tall order but, again, he put in a really mature ride and was rewarded with a fine seventh place.” “It was also good to have Brian out on the bikes for the first time and although he’s not quite bike fit yet or used to the bikes, only a bit of bad luck with the clutch prevented him from having two top eight finishes. He bounced back well in the Grand Final and if it hadn’t been for overshooting one of the road ends it could well have been even better but, like I say, we’re happy with how the day’s gone for all of the riders and are now looking forward to Tandragee.” All three riders will be back in action next Saturday, May 4th, at the Tandragee 100 road races. More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team: Barcelona, Spain – 28 April 2013: The Marc VDS Racing Team’s Livio Loi overcame a qualifying crash and tricky conditions to secure a top ten finish in both of today’s CEV Moto3 races at the Circuit de Catalunya. Fast in the dry conditions of Friday, Loi struggled to find a good set-up on his Kalex-KTM Moto3 machine when the rain arrived on Saturday. The Belgian, who celebrated his 16th birthday yesterday, crashed in the closing stages of the final qualifying session and had to start both Moto3 races from 21st position on the grid. Despite persistent rain making conditions tricky and grip unpredictable, Loi managed to fight his way through the field to finish tenth in both of today’s 16-lap Moto3 races. The Marc VDS rider will now head south, to the Jerez circuit in Andalucía, where he will make his debut in the Moto3 World Championship next weekend. Livio Loi Race 1 – 10th : Race 2 – 10th “The opening day was the only dry track time we had and I was happy with my lap times, which I was able to improve with every exit. It was wet for qualifying and we struggled to find a good wet set-up on the bike for this track. It was very different to Jerez, where I was able to run in the top five in the wet. Here the front and rear were sliding everywhere, not just on the gas or on the brakes, and I had a fast crash at the end of the long straight as a result. We hadn’t solved the problem for the first race, so tenth was the best I could do in the conditions. We made some changes for the second race, but the feeling with the bike still wasn’t there and I ended up tenth again. At times it was like riding and ice speedway bike, but without the spikes! Now I’m looking forward to Jerez, where I’ll make my world championship debut next weekend.” Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal “Livio makes his world championship debut next weekend in Jerez, so he was under orders not to take any risks in Barcelona. In the dry on Friday he quickly got to grips with the track and posted some impressive lap times. The rain arrived on Saturday and remained for today, with Livio struggling to find a set-up in the wet that gave him the confidence he needed to push harder. Despite this, and a crash in qualifying that left him in 21st position on the grid, he still managed two top ten finishes against stiff competition and in tricky conditions today. He’s learning all the time and this weekend was good preparation for his Grand Prix debut next weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Michael Hill Promotions: Confidence Building Race for Kyee at Assen Californian Brandon Kyee put a spate of crashes in practice and qualifying behind him to put on a brave show in today’s UEM Superstock 600cc race at Assen with a 25th position finish at the flag. It was a miracle that the Schacht Racing rider made the grid after Brandon’s crash earlier in the day left the team with a mountain of work to do to repair his CBR Honda machine. Kyee was lucky not to be involved in another incident on the opening lap after several riders fell leaving Brandon to take avoiding action. All in all the team are pleased that Brandon rode with his head, finished the race and gained confidence ahead of the next round of the championship in Monza in a fortnight. Brandon Kyee (25th position) – SCHACHT Racing: “The weekend started great with a top 10 after the first practice. I was really confident going into first qualifying but got a little impatient after being held up with some slower riders and unfortunately I crashed. Going into 2nd qualifying I was little off the pace at the start, we made some minor adjustments but when I went back out I lost the front through the fast left hander and crashed again. The bike was pretty messed up but my dad and the team worked really hard to get me on track for the race. I didn’t want to make any mistakes in the race especially after it was red flagged on lap one so I stuck to a steady pace and am happy not to crash again and to finish in 25th position. Monza in two weeks is a new weekend and I am looking forward to further improving things there.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha Owns Assen with the YZF-R6 The Yamaha YZF-R6 proved to be the bike to beat this weekend at the TT Circuit Assen, dominating to take victory in the World Supersport and Superstock 600 European Cup classes. Top billing went to Yakhnich Yamaha Motorsport’s Sam Lowes in the World Supersport class. The young British rider shot to pole position in Saturday’s qualifying with a blistering 1’38.375, making it three from three for the 2013 season so far and his seventh career pole. The race itself saw Lowes and rival Kenan Sofuoglu contest a tight two-man battle for the lead, the riders swapping lead repeatedly and rarely more than 0.3 seconds apart over the 21-lap run. Lowes saved the best for the end, taking the inside line through the final chicane on the final lap to take victory on his Yamaha YZF-R6. The result puts Lowes in third position, just nine points away from Fabien Foret at the top of the standings. Sam Lowes “I always enjoy the battle with Kenan and Fabien. The team and Yamaha really deserved this; they’ve given me a really fantastic bike all year so thank you very much to everyone. I think Kenan and I tried many things on the last lap so I’m really happy to come out on top.” MTM Racing Team Yamaha’s Gauthier Duwelz took his second consecutive pole position in qualifying on his R6 with a 1’42.255. Guwelz dominated the entire session, the Belgian rider consistently dropping his time in response to any potential threat. Duwelz’s teammate Adrian Nestorovic was also clearly enjoying the challenge of the Assen circuit on his R6, wrapping up qualifying just 0.222 seconds behind the pole sitter. The incident packed race proved to be a hotly contested duel between the two teammates at the front with Duwelz ultimately emerging the victor after a decisive move on the final lap. The result keeps Duwelz firmly at the top of the Superstock 600 standings. MTM Yamaha Team Owner Ludo van der Veeken “It’s been a really positive weekend, very successful. After the practices we discussed with both riders about our race approach. There were no team orders but we expected both riders to ride fairly and take no high risks to overtake a teammate if the other is clearly faster. Both riders rode very professionally, and we are very proud of the 1-2 results. Now we have to stay focused, it’s nice to win both first races but it’s a long season.”