Martin Jessopp to North West 200

by Stephen Davison

‘I am sure that I could hit 210 or even 212 mph this year if the conditions are right and I can slipstream someone.’

That is the confident prediction of Martin Jessopp, the man who achieved the fastest ever top speed- a mind-bending 208mph- on a British race course at last year’s North West 200. The 27 year old will return to the Vauxhall-backed meeting in 2013 on new BMW Superbike and Superstock-spec machines for the Riders’ Motorcycles.com team and he is hopeful that he will go even faster on May 18.

‘I broke the top speed barrier in practice last year.’ Martin explained from Holland, where he is testing motocross bikes as he waits for the British racing season to begin.

‘I was out on my own with no-one to slipstream and I hit 206mph on the first lap.’ he recalled. ‘It didn’t even get reported back to the pits because the guys with the speed gun thought that it couldn’t be working properly to record that speed so soon! I did the 208mph on the third lap. My mechanics were really excited about it when I pulled into the pits but I was more concerned about getting the bike properly set-up for the race.’

Incredibly, Jessopp revealed that he had been struggling with ‘some handling issues’ during those runs down through the Coleraine Road speed trap on the Riders’ Ducati. But he admitted that it felt ‘very quick’.

‘When you are doing 180mph on a wide track like Silverstone it doesn’t really feel that fast but at the North West the road is so much narrower and everything is going past so quickly.’ he explained. ‘It is so bumpy and there is even a jump along the fastest stretch! It is like you are going down a tunnel and the white lines and hedges become a blur. University Corner appears like a tiny little dot in the distance and then all of a sudden you are there, pulling on the brakes like mad to get stopped and get around it.’

The massive G-forces involved in hitting these colossal speeds and then slowing down from them exert a terrible strain on the body.  ‘You can’t really train your body for those pressures.’ Martin says. ‘You shift from one huge force to another in a split second as you go from 200-plus mph to almost zero on the brakes. My neck was sore for a week after it!’

‘There is nowhere else in the world where I’ve experienced anything like it though.’ he smiled as he savoured the prospect of racing the 8.9 mile Triangle course once again in 2013.

The Yeovil man will be hoping for better luck on what will be his sixth visit to Portrush.

‘To be honest I am coming back to try to right some of the wrongs of the past that I’ve experienced at the North West.’ Martin said.

‘I always qualify well but then it goes wrong on race day. In 2011 I put the Riders’ Ducati on the front row in practice and the race didn’t run because of the oil spill. Last year my tyre delaminated in the first Superbike race because of the heat generated by the high speeds and then in the second race I got knocked off at Mathers’ chicane by Gary Johnson and broke my collar bone.’

The Superbike races will once again be Jessopp’s focus on the BMW S1000RR that he will be campaigning in the BSB championship in 2013.

‘The big bike races are the ones I want to win, they are the ones with the best boys in them.’ he says. ‘I will be concentrating all my efforts on them and using the Superstock bike to get some extra track time.’

Jessopp raced in the World Supersport championship in 2012 and he also revealed that he is currently trying to source a 600cc machine to race at the Vauxhall International North West 200.

‘I have a lot of experience in that class and I am sure that I could challenge for a top three place on the right bike.’ he said.

Event Director Mervyn Whyte, MBE, said was delighted to the announce that the Riders’ team would return to race the Coast road in 2013 and he offered his own prediction.

‘I watched Martin finish runner-up to Michael Rutter in Macau last November,’ Whyte said. ‘and I am sure that if he has a better run of luck than he has experienced in the past he will get his first North West podium in May.’