Guy Martin clarifies retirement reports after leaving Honda following nightmare return to road racing

Martin had to withdraw from the North West 200 before crashing at 120mph at June's Isle of Man TT

Guy Martin has announced his retirement from road racing (Honda Racing)

Guy Martin has played down reports of his retirement from road racing after enduring a nightmare return with Honda Racing this year, though confirmed that he has no current plans of continuing his career in the sport after leaving the factory team.

The fan favourite suffered a disappointing year after 12 months away from the sport, with his running at the North West 200 in May curtailed prematurely following a serious crash for his teammate, John McGuinness, before suffering his own accident at the Isle of Man TT in June.

The 35-year-old Martin returned to road racing this year after spending a year away from the sport to recover from serious injuries suffered in a crash at the Ulster Grand Prix in 2015 as well as focusing on his television commitments, but was lured back into the saddle by Honda in his quest to claim his first Isle of Man TT victory.

However, after failing in his quest to top the podium on his return to the road, MCN reported that Martin will hang up his leathers for good after growing “bored” with the sport, leaving Honda’s factory team without a rider for the remainder of their road racing season given that McGuinness is still recovering from the broken leg he suffered at the North West 200.

“Racing’s been good to me, but I’m bored of it,” said Martin. “You spend the early part of the year preparing for the season – testing, racing, talking about it, and then doing it all over again. It’s like Groundhog Day. It’s time to stop.”

Martin has since taken to his Facebook account to stress he has not retired completely, but rather has his sights set on other races such as the Pikes Peak hill climb and other classic events.

"I went into the year right excited about the new Honda,” he wrote. “I thought it would be great straight away and so did the team. I soon realised that it needed a lot of developing and it will be great but it needs time and I’ve got loads of other projects going on, that I’d rather use that time for. I didn’t get involved to develop a bike over months and years, I was told I'd have a bike capable of winning straight away and that’s why I couldn’t turn down the opportunity.

"[The] TT was a bloody disaster, aside from walking the dog and racing the Mugen, I didn’t enjoy it. It was clear even before that we were going to struggle and then it turned into me really being a test rider, which I did but after we did more testing at Cadwell a few weeks back, I said to the team the bike won't be competitive at the Ulster Grand Prix and they decided to withdraw me from the event, although they didn’t tell me, which is OK as the decision was made for me.

"So I’ve not given up on racing or road racing, there’s no unfinished business and I want to race classics and oddball stuff. All I've been thinking about recently is Pikes Peak and any spare time my brain has had is about Pikes Peak on 4 wheels. That job is down to me and if it doesn’t work, it’s my fault and I like that.

Martin left the sport in 2015 after a serious crash (Honda Racing)

Martin’s return coincided with the introduction of the new Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR SP2 that by all accounts has been a tricky bike to master. McGuinness’ accident in Northern Ireland was revealed this week to have been caused by an ECU error that caused the throttle to blip mid-corner, while Martin’s bike forced itself into neutral during this year’s Superbike TT that caused him to crash at the 120mph Doran’s Bend.

The decision was made with Honda to pull out of the remaining Senior TT, with the Kirmington-born rider participating in the supersport category aboard the Wilson Craig Honda as well as the TT Zero on the electrical-powered Mugen, and after announcing this week that he had withdrawn from the Ulster Grand Prix, Martin has called time on his career.

Martin told The Independent earlier this year that a second year with Honda was something of interest if the Japanese manufacturer were prepared to keep him for 2018, but the lack of progress this season on the roads has led to both parties severing ties, with Martin now set to return to his TV commitments with a motorcycle land-speed record attempt on the horizon.