YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship 2007
Round 4 - Mallala Raceway, SA
Carbonize 1098 wins on debut.
Craig McMartin gave the new Carbonize 1098 the perfect debut with a race win and a new Pro-Twins lap record at Mallala raceway at the forth round of the Australian Superbike Championships which were held over the weekend of the 20 – 22 Apr 2007.
Having only picked up the new Ducati 1098S the week prior to the event, McMartin and the Carbonize team had to work tirelessly right up to the Friday morning practice session to prepare the bike for the event. The bike had only been started once prior to the event and McMartin was forced to take it easy during the Friday practice and qualifying sessions in order to run-in the new bike. However, once the new 1098 was run-in, McMartin was right on the pace qualifying in second position only 3 tenths of a second off pole.
Race one saw McMartin and the Carbonize 1098 in the battle for the podium right from the start. McMartin had a race long battle for 2nd position with Jon Cartwright (Yamaha FZ1 1000) who finished ahead in 2nd after McMartin was baulked by a lapped rider on the last lap while Scott Charlton (Yamaha FZ1 1000) finished in 1st position.
In race two, McMartin was again battling for a podium result until running wide at turn one forcing him off the track and through pit lane. McMartin rejoined in 10th position and then began to fight his way through the pack, setting a new lap record of 1:08.713 on his way to a credible 5th position. Scott Charlton took the win from Jon Cartwright and Roland Kruck.
Race three saw McMartin in a race long battle with good mate Scott Charlton, the pair setting the pace and pulling clear of the rest of the field. A thrilling last lap saw the pair swap position at least 4 time's with McMartin eventually taking the win over Charlton by only .069 of second with Cartwright finishing a further 4 seconds adrift in 3rd position.
McMartin and the Carbonize team are thrilled with the results from the weekend, with McMartin saying "I couldn't be happier with our results this weekend, the bike was brand new and hadn't turned a wheel before Friday morning and it was great to be on the pace right from the start. My team worked tirelessly all weekend to give me a great package; I'd like to thank the boys from Carbonize for getting the bike here. Id also like to thank Dunlop for giving me the best tyres available, Nick from Teknik for his work setting up the suspension, Pennzoil, Desmo HQ, Ducati Adelaide, PB Smash Repairs, Gibson Freight and Keith Muir for some great photography.