2009: Hydrex Honda
After the 2008 season ended, rumours started as to which team Martin would be racing for next season. He was linked to the Rob Mac racing team which run Yamahas in British Superbikes however this deal did not materialise. So for 2009 Martin continued with the Hydrex Honda team for a third successive year contesting all three Internationals as well as contesting selected British Championship and Irish National races. In a move from previous seasons, Martin moved away from the main Hydrex team, preferring instead to run a smaller, close knit team and after a steady North West 200 meeting, confidence was high going into the TT, his number one event of the year, as he sought to win a race at the 37.73 mile circuit on the Isle of Man.
2009 was expected to be the year he broke the seal, but after claiming two 2nds and a 3rd on the Superstock, Superbike and Supersport bikes early in the week Martin's engine gave up after coming onto the pit lane in the 2nd 600 race leaving him with his first DNF of the week and after a radio TT commentator approached he was left with an apology to make to TT fans for saying "If I get my hands on the fucker who built that engine he will feel the back of my hand!" More grief was still to come when putting the bike into gear at the end of his 2nd pit stop during the Senior race his chain snapped, meaning he ended up with another DNF.
He regrouped to claim the Southern 100 Championship on the Billown road course in July, after finishing second on no less than three occasions – 2005, 2006 and 2007 – before heading to the third International race of the season, the Ulster Grand Prix.
After taking third in Thursday's Dundrod 150 Superbike race, Martin repeated the result in the feature UGP Superbike race, held over 8 laps, but he ensured he would not be without an International win in 2009 when he won a thrilling second Superbike race, just over a tenth of a second in front of fellow Lincolnshire rider Gary Johnson. He also placed 4th and 5th in the equally close Superstock and Supersport races.
At the 2009 Gold Cup at Oliver's Mount, Martin won the Steve Henshaw Gold Cup feature race, becoming the first rider to win seven consecutive meetings.
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