Martin to ride Yamaha 600 at Assen

Just hours after finding out he wouldn’t be riding his DFX Honda Superbike at Assen, Steve Martin received a call from Yamaha’s Kevin Curtain asking him if he’d ride his World Supersport R6 at this weekend’s race.

Since the second round of the championship at Phillip Island, Martin’s future with the DFX Honda team has been in question due to the Italian team not having enough budget to run two riders for the full season.

Despite guarantees from the team the budget was in place, Martin was told before Donington Park he no longer had a ride. This was before a dramatic u-turn saw him compete on the bike at Donington and then again at Valencia two weeks ago.

Now it appears his Superbike deal has come to an end, making the timing of Yamaha’s offer to replace Kevin Curtain in World Supersport perfect.

Curtain was still recovering from surgery on his broken collarbone he sustained at Donington when he fell again at Valencia.

Curtain was taken out by Pere Riba in the race and after becoming tangled with the bike sustained a 20cm gash on the inside of his leg.

Martin said: “I can’t believe the way this all came about, but when Kev asked me personally to fill in for him I was in shock as it was the last phone call I was expecting.

“No one likes to fill in under these circumstances especially when its one of your mates but I will do the best job possible to help Kev, Brock and Yamaha.”