Tyco Suzuki’s Guy Martin retained his Southern 100 Solo Championship title yesterday after a race-long scrap with Dean Harrison on the Billown Circuit.

The Lincolnshire rider started his day with second place in the Supersport encounter, but lifted the all-important and coveted Solo Championship pot after a titanic battle with new kid on the block Dean Harrison, throughout the nine lap race.

“The boys have had late nights tweaking this and that for me with the bikes, so full credit to them for a big effort this week, but what a race. To retain my Solo Championship title is just mint,” said Martin.

“We dipped inside my old outright lap record the pace was that hot, but fair play to Dean, he ended up going that little bit quicker. It’s not a bad trade off though losing the lap record for the Solo Championship, is it. But to win this again is just mega; absolutely mega. The bike worked well today and the Metzeler tyres were faultless. All good.”