Australian Superbike Championship 2008
Round 1 - Eastern Creek
Great start to the title defence for Craig McMartin and the Ricoh Business Centre/Carbonize Race Team
Craig McMartin and the Ricoh Business Centre/Carbonize Race Team got there title defence off to a great start last weekend with a commanding performance at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway, taking pole position and setting a new class lap record on his way to 3 wins from 3 starts in the combined Pro-Twins/Naked Bike class.
Having arrived home from Daytona only a day before the race meeting, McMartin had little time to prepare for the all important first round of the series. This didn't affect McMartin's performance on the track as he totally dominated the practice and qualifying sessions, qualifying in pole position with a time of 1:35.021, 2 seconds clear of his nearest rival, Craig Trinder (MV Agusta Racing Brutale).
Race one was held on Saturday afternoon and McMartin got off to a great start, leading into the first turn and never being troubled for the lead. McMartin set the pace early and was able to build a gap and take control of the race, setting a new lap record of 1:33.998 on his way to the chequered flag. McMartin took the race win, 7.5 seconds clear of Craig Trinder and Daniel Wheeler (Ducati 1098S).
Race's 2 and 3 on Sunday were a similar affair as McMartin set the pace early on to build a commanding lead before taking the chequered flag from Craig Trinder and Daniel Wheeler in each race. McMartin was very happy with the results from the weekend, saying "It's great to be back on board the Ricoh Business Centre/Carbonize Racing 1098S, my team worked hard all weekend to give me a great package which made my job so much easier. I'd like to thank Ricoh Business Centre and Carbonize Racing for making this great result possible. I would also like to thank Nick from Teknik Motorsport for all his hard work on the Ricoh Business Centre/Carbonize Racing 1098."