Martin pleased with third place in motocross championship

The KTM rider, who is scheduled to race at the supercross in the Odyssey Arena later in the year, concluded the season at Hawkstone Park, where he qualified second in superpole and in his first race had a great scrap with Honda’s Brad Anderson.

“I got a good start right behind Anderson. We were going at it the whole race but I just couldn’t get close enough to make the pass stick and at the chequered flag I was a second behind in second place,” explained Martin.

Race two saw the East Antrim man run out the winner by six seconds from Tom Church, after Anderson crashed out. “I made a bad start but got my head down and made the ground up quite quickly,” he said. “I reckon I could have won anyway as I was right on him when he went down.”

In race three, Martin made an average start, leaving himself some work to do to catch the front runners. “I made some early passes and it wasn’t long before I had caught and passed Anderson and closed the gap to race leader Church.

“Unfortunately, my front wheel washed out and I went down, letting Anderson past. It was all over by then as my bike started rattling like a bag of bolts and I could do nothing else but nurse it home for fourth,” Martin added.

He finished second overall.

Not to too disheartened, Martin said: “It’s been an OK year and I can build on it for 2012.”