Welcome to the Marty NU77 Racing Blog

NUTT TESTED IN MIXED CONDITIONS AT OULTON PARK

Marty’s on-track skills were definitely put to the test this Bank Holiday weekend at Oulton Park.

Competing in both the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship and the Henderson Yamaha R1 Cup Nutt, from Castlerock, maintained consistent pace, which improved, adapting to the mixed conditions the weather chose to throw at him.

Come race day, however, Marty was disappointed with his results, saying they were average but he didn’t have any luck in either race.

His first race was aboard the Double M Racing/Nutt Travel R1 and nothing seemed to go his way. He said “I just couldn't get going; every time I pushed I just had a moment like a slide or nearly losing the front or something. It seemed to take me longer to get going than the others and I don't know why.'

It was a successful ride for Marty, however, as he managed to claw his way back from tenth and run up through the field to finish in a creditable sixth place. He now sits joint fourth with Gary Mason in the championship and only 14 points behind series leader Sean Emmett.

It is still early days for that championship and the next round at Donington Park will give Marty the opportunity to grab a handful of points back as there will be two races run that weekend.

Marty was more positive above the British Supersport race on the Dawn International 600 Yamaha sponsored by Nutt Travel and T & G after qualifying 13^th. Unfortunately, a red flag turned the tables on him. 

He said: “It was looking pretty good; we went with intermediate front and rear where most of the others went out with a full wet on the front. It was looking for a position in the top six but the race was red flagged. This allowed the other guys to change their tyres.'

“The first corner of the restart, one rider forced the rider next to me to sit up and hit me. I nearly lost the front and I went off onto the grass. That was me dead last. I got back up to 20^th, but you don't get points for being 20^th. I enjoyed the ride, but it wasn't where I wanted to be.”

The crowd was able to see Marty’s obvious on-bike talent as he clawed his way back up the field with a clear demonstration of why he should be riding at the front in this series.

Next weekend, he returns to the hopefully less snowy Brands Hatch where he will only be competing in the Supersport series as the R1 cup is not due to be run. He is relishing the challenge and said: “I am as ready as ever.”

Marty enjoyed a successful opening weekend to his British Supersport and Henderson R1 Cup campaigns, taking a podium on the big Yamaha and a well-earned seventh on his 600cc bike.

In what can only be described as changeable weather over the weekend, Marty enjoyed going back to what he does best and leaves the Hampshire track in good spirits, already thinking about the next round at Oulton Park.

After qualifying third in the R1 Cup on the Double M Racing / Nutttravel.com Team Yamaha, he was in the thick of the action from the off, sitting second behind pole-man Jon Kirkham. Marty swapped places with Gary Mason, Adrian Coates and Sean Emmett throughout the race and eventually stood on the podium in third, claiming a well-deserved trophy in his first race of the day, setting a fastest lap of 1min 18.843s and finishing less than a second behind race winner Kirkham.

Marty said: “I am well pleased. It is just great to be back racing and close racing as well. There were a few times I was down to fifth and I made some good moves to get back up there. I knew on the last lap it was going to be hard, so I had to make defensive moves to keep my position.”

He didn’t have much time to bask in the glories as he was straight back out for the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport championship, a very short break, which he prefers to last season when there was an hour and a half between his two races. 

He explains: “I quite like it as last year you come in buzzing, but by the time the next race comes around you've come down. I was wondering about my fitness as I am not at my usual level at the start of the year, but I was better than expected. It was good.”

He demonstrated his riding talent by jumping from the power delivery of an R1 onto the Dawn International R6 Yamaha sponsored by Nutt Travel and T & G for his second race. From grid slot seven he had a successful start to again be up with the front runners, but he didn't have an easy time of it and as soon as the lights went out he had to battle for every inch of track. 

Plenty of fairing bashing saw numerous poition changes that continued right to the chequered flag. It was clear that Marty's fitness or attitude hadn’t faded with his fastest lap of 1min 18.952s a mere 0.109s off his R1 time.

Marty finally crossed the line in seventh after losing a couple of places, however he is not disappointed with the result.

He said: “The Supersport was the same as the R1 Cup. It was hectic and you never had a minute. I was getting hard passes done on me and I was doing hard passes back. I wanted a top ten out of it, I think I could have got a better result but I got messed up by another rider, but that's all about ifs and buts. We've got two successful results out of today.”

Apart from preparing the bikes, Marty is looking forward and ready for Oulton Park and will continue to do his much-loved mountain biking to keep fit in the meantime. He will be aiming to obtain more positive results at what is now the second round of both championships in two weeks.

ON BOARD THE Dawn International R6 Yamaha

ON THE PODIUM AFTER COLLECTING 3rd IN THE R1 CUP

MARTY ON BOARD THE DOUBLE M RACING/NUTTTRAVEL.COM R1 YAMAHA

Marty onboard the Yamaha 600 during testing in Spain

Last weekend saw the first round of the season, with the Nutttravel.com/T+G Team heading to Brands Hatch.  It turned out to be somewhat of a mixed bag for Marty.  He was pleased with his qualifying sessions aboard the R1 Yamaha, however there were problems with gearing on the 600.  this and having to make some tricky choices about tyres meant that Marty was not happy with his qualifying times in the Supersport class.  Unfortunately the weather put paid to any racing on the Sunday, with the round being postponed to the 11th May.  Overall it was a useful weekend, and at least the Team got some snowball throwing practice in!!

The view from the truck at Brands Hatch

Marty will be heading South this weekend (11th-13th April) to compete in the 600 Supersport class, the Superbike class and the Mondello Masters championship at the Mondello Circuit in Naas. 

For the 2008 season Marty will be taking a change in direction with a new challenge in the British Supersport class on board a R6 Yamaha. At the end of last year's season Marty had a run out on a R6 during the Sunflower Races at his local circuit Bishopscourt, Co. Down. He gained two second places behind the TAS Suzuki. Marty is also hoping to compete in the R1 Cup if negotiations with a potential sponsor are successful. Marty has confirmed sponsorship for 2008 from the following: Dawn International, Tanker and General, VBG and Nutt Travel.

Marty will be marrying his fiancée Sue Moody on the 7th February. After two weeks honeymoon skiing in Whistler, Canada he will be returning to his training including a trip to Spain in early March for four days testing.