Roads: Guy Martin withdraws from Cookstown 100

Guy Martin has withdrawn from this weekend’s Cookstown 100 after gearbox problems with his BSA Rocket 3.

The TT racer turned TV star was scheduled to race at the event this weekend, which would be his first appearance on the roads since pulling out of last year’s Isle of Man TT.

After a tough 2017 season with Honda Racing, Martin revealed he would focus on classic racing moving forwards and entered a number of Irish road races on his BSA Rocket 3.

The Lincolnshireman was set to line-up in the yesteryear classic race this weekend, but has been forced to withdraw as the machine developed gearbox issues after testing.

A statement from Cookstown 100 organisers read: “The organisers of the first road race of the 2018 season have been dealt a major blow as crowd favourite Guy Martin has had to pull out of the meeting. Guy, who has been in Russia for the past number of weeks working on his latest project, returned home last weekend and had his home-built BSA Rocket 3 up and running, but after testing his machine developed gearbox problems. As the parts required won’t be made available in time for the KDM Hire Cookstown 100, Guy has had to take the decision to pull out of the meeting on safety grounds. Guy has apologised to the club for his misfortunes and wished the club well for their event.”

It’s not yet known whether Martin will have the bike ready for the Tandragee 100 races the following week.