Guy Martin made it two wins from three races at Saturday's Ulster Grand Prix when he took the feature 7-lap Superbike race although it was again close with Michael Dunlop almost pipping him on the run in to the line. The Tyco Suzuki rider took the lead at Lougher's on the opening lap and from there was never headed, his lead at one stage reaching 1.5s.
However, when backmarkers came into play, it allowed Dunlop to close in with the Honda rider also setting the fastest lap of the race at 133.128mph. It meant it was all to play for on the final lap but Martin held on although Dunlop's bold attempt around the outside saw him come up short but by only 0.03s.
"I managed to get by Michael at Lougher's on the opening lap but wondered if I'd gone too soon," Martin later admitted. "But once at the front, I just thought I'd ride my own race and if he came by, I'd wait until the last lap. I'd opened up quite a nice lead but didn't get the greatest of runs through the backmarkers so the gap closed up. But this is the one to win and I didn't allow him to get close enough on that final lap."
Dunlop led off the line until Martin went ahead and at the end of the first lap it was Martin closely followed by the two Dunlop brothers, William going well on the Milwaukee Yamaha. They'd already opened up a gap over the chasing pack which was headed by Gary Johnson and Bruce Anstey.
The next two laps saw Martin eke out a small advantage as William briefly moved into second although he later admitted a few suspension changes would be needed to the Yamaha to enable him to run the pace of the front two. The front seven riders were all lapping above 131mph with Conor Cummins, Johnson, Anstey and Dean Harrison only split by half a second until the latter made a mistake on the fourth lap and lost ground.
On lap five, Michael began to reduce Martin's lead, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap five and going into the final lap, there was just 0.3s between them. William Dunlop was safe in third but team-mate Conor Cummins had taken over fourth from Anstey, Johnson and Harrison although it was still close.
Throughout the final lap, Dunlop and the Honda continued to close in but he just wasn't close enough at the hairpin to make a pass and Martin seemingly had the race won. However, Dunlop hadn't given up hope and swept round the outside on the final lap, briefly touching the dirt, only to come up fractionally short.
William Dunlop held onto third but team-mate Cummins slowed, eventually crossing the line in tenth, and that allowed Anstey to take fourth ahead of Johnson. Harrison fell into the clutches of Lee Johnston, Jamie Hamilton and Cameron Donald, who enjoyed a race long battle, and it was Johnston who took sixth on the line from Harrison, Donald and Hamilton.
Ian Lougher was forced to miss the race after the previous race podium presentation over-ran and he wasn't allowed to take to the track and complete his warm-up lap.
