Martin aims to deliver in Italy!
 Steve
Martin will be hoping to deliver in more ways than one as
he enters his penultimate race for Foggy PETRONAS Racing at
Imola this weekend.
The experienced Australian’s partner, Sandra Cork,
is expecting their first child in the period between the start
of this weekend’s 11th round of the Superbike World
Championship in Italy and the following week’s finale
at Magny-Cours, France.
So, while FPR team-mate Craig Jones concentrates on building
on recently improved results, Steve will also have one eye
on off-track developments.
Steve, whose home is on the Italian border with Switzerland,
said: “Unless the baby is born in the next couple of
days she will be coming to Imola this weekend and I have left
it up to her whether she travels to Magny-Cours. As long as
we are always within half an hour of a hospital then everything
should be okay. This project has always been on the edge,
so it’s nothing new!
“The last two rounds have shown that we can consistently
score points on the PETRONAS FP1 so, if everything goes well
and we have a bit of luck, we can score points again at Imola.
It is one of the classically styled tracks like Brands Hatch
or Phillip Island - not an easy track to ride and that helps
us a little bit. I had my best result there last year with
a fifth, when the conditions were a bit ‘iffy’.
That’s when team-craft comes into play and the FPR team
has always been strong in that department.”
For Craig it will be a testing end to his rookie season as
he visits two circuits for the first time. However, having
scored his first points last time out in Germany, he is hoping
to continue moving up his World Superbike learning curve.
He said: “This is just a learning weekend for me. All
I can really come away with is circuit knowledge, although
it would be nice to get some more points. I will push as hard
as I can but I am not setting myself any targets that I can’t
achieve. I have only seen Imola on television and it looks
a difficult circuit to learn, But if I can make more progress
this weekend, then hopefully I can challenge for a result
at Magny-Cours, which doesn’t seem as difficult to learn.”
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