Steve Martin (motorcycle racer)

Steve Martin is a motorcycle road racer from Australia. He lives in Switzerland with his partner Sandra and son Axel. He has not raced in 2008, but is a veteran of the World Superbike Championship, and former champion of the Australian series.

After success in trials, he started racing in his home Superbike Championship in 1990, initially on a factory Suzuki. Years on private bikes followed, but he later earned a Ducati ride. He lead the 1998 standings until a crash at Phillip Island, but won the title in 1999. He also did an assortment of wild card rides in the Superbike World Championship rounds at Phillip Island over the years, as well as four 500cc Grand Prix races in 1999.

After that, he moved to the Australian Supersport series, before moving to the Superbike World Championship full time for SBK|2001, riding on Pirelli tyres for DFXtreme. He scored a pair of top-6 finishes at Imola in SBK|2001, and set fastest lap at the Lausitzring that year, but he was not a frontrunner for much of 2001 or SBK|2002. However, he stepped up to 8th overall in SBK|2003 and 7th in SBK|2004, along with 3 pole positions. He spent the next 2 years with Carl Fogarty's Foggy Petronas team, which struggled to be competitive with its three-cylinder machine, although beating team-mates Garry McCoy and Craig Jones in those years. He returned to DFXtreme for SBK|2007 [ [http://www.rubbermag.com/news/0609/060919_04n.html Rubber Magazine - SBK: Steve Martin signs with DFX for 2007 ] ] , turning down other offers as he believed the team had enough funds for the full season. It soon became clear that this was not the case - he nearly lost the ride after 2 races [ [http://londonbikers.com/news/9d0cac97-f3bc-45b1-980d-9527e1207678 Steve Martin Left Without A Ride For Remainder Of Season ] ] , but continued for rounds 3 and 4, before leaving the team as it could not provide a full-time entry. He moved into the World Supersport Championship at Assen, replacing injured countryman Kevin Curtain [ [http://www.yamahaclub.com/news/track-racing/steve-martin-to-stand-in-for-kevin-curtain/ Yamaha Owners Club - Steve Martin to stand in for Kevin Curtain ] ] Later in SBK|2007 he contested the Suzuka 8 Hours race, and he made World Superbike starts on Yamaha and Suzuki equipment, but finished the season with a broken metatarsal [http://www.stevemartin99.com/news/newsitem.asp?id=20071009100152_SM99] .

References

External links

* [http://www.motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/Rider%20Profiles/steve_martin_06.html Rider profile]