Third place finish in the lightweight race at TT 2016, added arguably the most important addition to Martin Jessopp’s pure road racing CV, a TT podium finish.
Piloting Riders Motorcycles ER6 Kawasaki, the three time Macau Grand Prix runner up, battled his way to maiden rostrum at the most famous road race in the world, as he held off strong challenges from CF Moto mounted Gary Johnson and sole Paton representative in the race, Stefano Bonetti.
Photo by Louis Porter
This outstanding result, which left Martin speechless, was the undoubted main highlight of a highly accomplished two weeks of Mountain Course action.
Added positive moments included highly creditable 14th place finish in the second Monster Energy supersport race, as he finished amongst the leading 675 Daytona Triumph mounted competitors.
His race week began with 17th place finish in the RST superbike TT, he suffered disappointment in the opening Monster Energy supersport and Royal London 360 Quantum superstock races, forced to retire from both with reliability problems.
Martin’s third TT Races campaign concluded in a record breaking Pokerstars senior TT. Competing on the Riders Motorcycles S1000RR BMW, he finished 12th, finishing just under 20 seconds off recording a top ten finish.
Setting a new personal best lap speed of 129.245 mph, it’s fair to say he’s moved up a level at the most famous road race in the world.
Words by Stevie Rial