Steve
Martin has often been described as the
most underrated rider in World Superbikes
and is also considered the total ‘Mr Nice Guy’ of
the paddock. These two admirable qualities
are not surprising though as, coupled with
his abundance of road racing experience,
success and determination, the 38 year
old Aussie has a laid back attitude to
life and avoids stealing the limelight...
My interest in motorbikes – all and any motorbikes – was
there from a young age and after a few years
of badgering my parents, they finally bought
me a bike when I was ten. Nothing flash,
more like a little bike with a lawnmower
engine, but at the time I thought it was
the best thing I ever could have had. I still
couldn't really tell you what captured my
imagination and interest in bikes but I'm
pleased it did as I now earn a living doing
exactly what I have always loved.
I started out in trials riding and won the Australian Junior Trials Championship
in 1983 when I was fourteen. But as soon as I turned sixteen I got my bike license
and realised that if I took up road racing, then I wouldn't actually have to
clean the bike myself!!!!
From that point I put my heart and soul into racing, taking out loan after loan
whilst working to pay for it and struggled through until I was signed by the
Australian Superbike Championship factory Suzuki team in 1990.
When I left school I started an apprenticeship
as a cabinet maker. Whilst I saw this through
and completed my training when I was nineteen,
my heart was with my hobby in racing and
I knew I had a passion for things more mechanical,
particularly once I experienced my first
road bike – a Yamaha RD250LC. During
this time absolutely everything I had was
going into my racing. I moved out of home
when I was seventeen so was holding down
a job and a home but drove around in real
old bangers to make sure I had the money
for racing.
Just as I concluded my apprenticeship I was offered a job to work as a spares
guy in a Yamaha dealer, who also supported me with a bike for the Australian
Production Championship, which is more equivalent to superstock. And that was
it in my mind. Cabinet making days over, much to my Mum's frustration as she's
still waiting eighteen years on for me to make some handles for the kitchen dresser
I made her!
I stayed with Southern Yamaha for a few years – and
by the way I was also still doing my job
as a spares guy for the dealership during
that time - until the end of 1989 when I
won the Australian Production Championship.
But I then faced a really tough challenge
of totally uprooting and moving on my own
to Melbourne in 1990, where I knew nobody,
in order to race in the Australian Superbike
Championship with the factory Suzuki team.
That was the first time I'd ever experienced
going racing as part of a team, rather than
with a few mates, a bike and a trailer, and
it gave me the break I needed to progress
my racing career.
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