These must be interesting times for Guy Martin: having signed for Relentless Suzuki, things look rosy for the road racing season ahead; his prime time BBC One series has just finished; and his move up from the small screen to the big screen is imminent. Blimey.

The Boat That Guy Built

Did you watch The Boat That Guy Built? It was a curious beast: by turns fascinating and tedious, amusing and annoying, over long yet running at a breakneck pace. Like Guy Martin himself, you might say.

His role was curious too. It felt to me like perhaps he didn’t quite work out as hoped in front of the camera, and in the edit became more the subject of the documentary than the presenter. Certainly his pieces to camera that did make the cut were a touch more rapid-fire and rambling than a 7.30pm BBC One audience might be used to. It would also explain the Liza Tarbuck voiceover, delivered very much in the tone of a despairing mother.

I stuck with it though – despite the unending calls of “chief” and “boss”. It’s always good to see Industrial Revolution era engineering, and Guy Martin’s enthusiasm and willingness to have a go was a reasonably effective medium.

It’s available on the BBC iPlayer for a few weeks yet.

TT3D: Closer To The Edge

I can’t decide which is more unexpected to see Guy Martin in: a prime time TV series, or a documentary film with a wide cinematic release. TT3D: Closer To The Edge is about the Isle of Man TT as a whole, but the trailer suggests that Guy Martin will be one of the main focal points.

Like I, Superbiker, the majority of the screenings will be on one night: Wednesday 20th April 2011. They’re being labelled preview screenings, but far fewer cinemas will be showing the film on its official release on Friday 22nd April.

But unlike I, Superbiker, I think TT3D might be genuinely good. The trailer certainly looks a lot more professional, and gives the impression of being a proper documentary. It’s also telling, perhaps, that the pre-release plaudits have come from the like of Empire and Total Film, rather than The Sun and MCN.

Fingers crossed, then. I’ll pop along to one of the preview screenings, and shove my opinions right up this website shortly afterwards.

TT3D Game

But, whatever you do, don’t download the TT3D Game for the iPhone. It is literally the worst thing I’ve played in years. It looks awful, the course is completely flat, the bike is virtually uncontrollable – I shan’t go on. Just don’t go near it.

I was very keen to see I, Superbiker, out of sheer curiosity. To make a documentary film around British Superbikes is intriguing enough, but to secure screenings at dozens of cinemas nationwide – all on the evening of Monday 14th March 2011 – is hugely impressive.

So I popped along to my local screening, not really knowing what to expect – either in terms of the film, or the turnout.

Unlike some of the screenings with a celebrity guest, it certainly wasn’t sold out. But there was a bit of a queue forming to get in when I arrived, and there was a decent crowd when the lights went out. I assume that it’s been a commercially successful endeavour, and I’m glad about that.

The film follows Tommy Hill, Josh Brookes, James Ellison and Gary Mason throughout the 2010 British Superbikes season. It paints them as modern day gladiators, which is obviously a bit daft – as is the opening sequence, complete with tacky Roman lettering and cheap graphic effects.

It gets better from there though, and belts along at quite a pace. It has to, to fit in highlights from every race, interviews, behind the scenes footage, and segments following the riders at home between meetings.

Gary Mason and James Ellison come across especially well. They’re memorably honest about money, and where they are in their careers: in Mason’s case, being paid only for results; in Ellison’s, doing what he loves, albeit for not a lot of money.

There’s an interesting contribution from James Whitham on the same subject – at the controls of a light aircraft, naturally – suggesting that teams have become the most important aspect, rather than riders.

The pain and frustration that Ellison went through after his huge accident is clear to see: the fear that his career could be slipping away, and the resulting pressure he put on himself deliver results. His win at the final meeting is a satisfying conclusion to his story.

The same can’t be said about Mason, who slowly fades into the background of the film as the final stages of the season unfold.

The impression of Tommy Hill is a little one-dimensional: he’s either winning or wanting to win, then he doesn’t win. There is nothing about his return to British Superbikes after a fairly torrid time in World Superbikes, which might have added some context to his campaign.

Josh Brookes, meanwhile, is just plain anonymous. Presumably because Britain isn’t his home, there are no contributions from other people in his world, and little is seen of his life away from the track.

So it isn’t quite a film about the four riders, due to the restriction to the 2010 season. But neither is it a film about the 2010 season, most obviously because Ryuichi Kiyonari – the eventual champion – is largely glossed over.

That’s presumably because he isn’t hugely expressive in English, but that seems like a missed opportunity. We don’t really know Kiyonari very well – thanks to the language barrier – but judicious use of a translator could have provided some genuinely new insight into his character. He would, perhaps, have been a more deserving subject of the film. As would Michael Rutter, if you ask me.

But it’s mainly about Hill towards the end, so him losing the championship is the film’s abrupt conclusion, which isn’t terribly satisfying.

Enough about what the film isn’t, though. There’s no question that it’s absolutely stuffed to the gills: the race edits work well, despite their focus on the four riders; and there’s some good stuff around those edits. As a result the film doesn’t fail to engage.

As a piece of motorsport entertainment, it’s a decent achievement. But with more context, and slightly more probing interviews, it could have been more than that.

This week, YouTube celebrated five years since its official launch. Actually, it didn’t really seem to mark the occasion at all, but Aleks Krotoski went on Radio 4′s Today programme to talk about it. Which is all the excuse I need to upload another largely pointless video to YouTube.

How about something from earlier this year? The Brands Hatch GP round of British Superbikes in August, perhaps? Yes. Here’s BSB Evo rider Pauli Pekkanen doing a burnout, taken from inside Druids:

What I particularly like about this is that Pekkanen had finished 18th overall in the race, and 4th in the Evo class. The probable explanation of why he felt the need for a burnout is simple: he’s Finnish, and therefore brilliant.

It’s just about as busy as weekends get for motorsport on Freeview: Formula 1 has the Japanese Grand Prix, MotoGP has the Malaysian Grand Prix, and BTCC comes to a climax at Brands Hatch.

Watching all of it won’t be terrifically straightforward, because the Commonwealth Games mean that there is precious little space on that single BBC Red Button stream on Freeview – which seems to be my favourite topic – so some of it will only be available online. We need a timetable – what, when and where!

UPDATE SATURDAY
Formula 1 qualifying was rained off this morning, and has been rescheduled to Sunday morning, 02:00 UK time, which will be on BBC One. The BBC Motorsport Schedule has been updated now, so it’s clear that the MotoGP support races will be on the Red Button, but only on satellite and cable.

So it’s going to be tricky to watch or even record the 125cc and Moto2 races – you can only record the Red Button on Freeview, and they’re not on the Freeview Red Button. And you might well want to record them, since not only are they on early, but they clash with the Formula 1 race. Fortunately, the BBC is pretty good at putting both support races on the iPlayer – keep an eye out here later on Sunday.

This all seems desperately complicated – and it is – but I’m just grateful I’ve not got Eurosport: then I’d have to add in the British Superbikes finale from Oulton Park too. Cor blimey!

Under the probably unnecessary 2010 rules, British Superbikes has now entered the Showdown phase. In brief: only the top six can now win the title, and they’ve had their points broadly equalised.

Those six aren’t exactly who I would have predicted. Both HM Plant Honda riders – Ryuichi Kiyonari and Josh Brookes – are there, as expected, as is Tommy Hill on the Worx Suzuki. Michael Rutter (Riders Ducati) would have been a fair bet, but the surprise is that not just one, but both Relentless Suzuki riders – Michael Laverty and Alistair Seeley – are through. It’s Stuart Easton and James Ellison – both Swan Honda – who are conspicuous by their absence.

Anyway, who’s going to win? It was illustrative for the BTCC, so let’s have a look at a graph of cumulative points by race for each of the riders in the Showdown.

There’s an argument that anything could happen, as effectively only seven races will decide the championship. But what does the graph say?

It would be a brave man who would back Rutter, Laverty or Seeley: all three have been fairly consistent to date, rather than showing occasional bursts of point-scoring, which might suggest a potential upset over the remaining meetings.

But it’s almost unbearably close between the other three in the Showdown. Hill started strongly, had a bit of a dip, but is right back on form now. Brookes and Kiyonari both struggled early on. Brookes quickly improved and was the man benefiting most during Hill’s dip; Kiyonari took a bit longer to get up to speed, but is probably the man with most momentum right now.

But my hunch? Brookes.

There are three series which I’m forced to follow through highlights shows: British Superbikes, WTCC and World Superbikes. Well, not quite forced to: I could get Eurosport and watch them live. But I don’t. The point is: there is definitely a skill in crafting a highlights package, and not all of these manage it.

British Superbikes, on ITV4, represents close to the ideal highlights show. For one thing, there’s a real, actual presenter on screen and on the grid – James Haydon. As I have previously remarked, he now does a very good job indeed.

The downside is that the commentary is not bespoke: it’s an edit of Eurosport’s live coverage. But you’d not want to replace the ever-entertaining Jack Burnicle and James Whitham, and the highlights are extensive enough to still convey the story of the race – the programme is an hour long for standard two-race meetings, with an extra 30 minutes for the triple-headers.

That’s where World Superbikes on Channel 4 falls down. The problem is that two races – plus qualifying – are stuffed into less than half an hour; and while Charlie Webster provides a voiceover, race commentary is an edit of the world feed by Jonathan Green and Steve Martin. In a busy race, you end up with lots of shouting about the overtaking moves, and little idea of who’s where and who’s going where. So, bizarrely, you get better highlights from races with less action, because there are fewer quick, jarring cuts from one overtake to the next.

World Touring Car Championship highlights on ITV4 also squeeze two races plus qualifying into half an hour. The difference is that the commentary is specific to the highlights show – it used to be Martin Haven, but earlier this year Ben Constanduros took over. And it works: because the commentary is continuous, even when there’s a lot of action, there’s still time to cover how the race is progressing as a whole. There’s a bonus of watching WTCC highlights too: it cuts out all the bloody safety cars.

So the conclusion is you either need lengthy highlights, or a bespoke commentary. Easy!

Who doesn’t love Michael Rutter? Be honest. He’s pretty ace, isn’t he? I don’t think I heard anyone else’s name being shouted by the crowd at Brands Hatch on Sunday, but middle-aged men were passionately and vocally willing on the unassuming 38 year old. I think that’s his appeal: he’s such an unlikely frontrunner, for British Superbikes or any other series really.

Rutter didn’t get carried away by the crowd’s encouragement though, instead doing what he always does: ride the bike fast, but not beyond what it’s capable of. So he didn’t pick up any wins, but he was on the podium for all three of the weekend’s races. That netted him the third highest points tally of the meeting, behind the visiting Tom Sykes and new championship leader Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Form has fluctuated over the course of the season for all the championship contenders, and that’s something I intend to return to.

But with only the second meeting at Cadwell Park to go before we enter the Showdown, Rutter is definitely one of the men on the up. If you take just the last three meetings, only Kiyonari has scored more points than Rutter. Compare that to the first three meetings of the season, after which Rutter was 6th overall, and Kiyonari 8th.

Another factor which occurred to me over the weekend was that the Showdown, which decides the championship, is played out over three meetings in September and October. You could argue that rain is more likely in the autumn than over the summer – might that play into the hands of someone like, ooh, Michael Rutter?

Rutter insists that he’s good in all conditions, and isn’t just a rain master. That’s true, but it’s also true that a lot of other riders struggle more in the rain than Rutter does.

It’s tempting to think that a rainy final round at Oulton Park – which doesn’t seem implausible in the north of England in October – could just sway the championship in favour of Rutter. How great would that be?

Well I had a jolly good time at Brands Hatch today, watching British Superbikes and all that goes with it.

Another man who I fancy will have enjoyed his day is Tom Sykes. He certainly looks happy after winning the first BSB race of the day, doesn’t he?

It only got better for him, winning race two as well. He’s not had even a podium in his day job in World Superbikes, this season or last, so to grab a couple of wins on his old home stomping ground must have been nice.

What about the regular BSB riders, though? Having only just got in, I’ve not seen any TV coverage, or read any rider comments. But at least some of them must be a bit frustrated that Sykes just rolled up, took crucial championship points and podium credits, and now toddles back of to World Superbikes.

Ho hum, such is life. At least there were three races this weekend, and Sykes only finished 5th in the first on Saturday.

It’s going to be a slow news month, with Formula 1 taking its month-long summer break, and MotoGP taking a few weeks off too. It doesn’t mean there’s no motorsport on TV though. Oh my no.

Fortunately, this weekend marks the end of the BTCC‘s own, even longer summer break, which means an entire afternoon of action from Snetterton on ITV4. Even more fortunately, the forecast is good: potential for a touch of rain on Saturday, then dry and warm – but not hot – on Sunday.

The weather could be important. Tom Onslow-Cole – who I confused at Thruxton on Wednesday – wants cool weather to be kind to the tyres on the Ford Focus. Conversely, the BMWs are kind to their tyres, so they’re after hot weather. Which they’re not likely to get.

You’d have to agree with championship leaders Matt Neal and Jason Plato, then: the two Toms in the LPG-turbo Focus should go bloody well. Especially on Snetterton’s long straights.

My eyes will be on – and at – Brands Hatch though, for British Superbikes. Same story with the weather: bit of rain possible on Saturday; warm and dry on Sunday.

It’s a curious point in the season: there are two more meetings until the points are reset, and the top six riders enter the showdown for the title, with only their podium credits carried forward. The top five – Tommy Hill, Josh Brookes, Ryuchi Kiyonari, Michael Laverty, Michael Rutter – are looking fairly safe.

But the pressure is on for the final place in the showdown. It’s John Laverty as things stands, but Alistair Seeley is just one point back. Stuart Easton has an outside chance too, but has had a shocker for the last four meetings.

With three races at Brands Hatch this weekend, it’s going to be absolutely crucial for that battle. Meanwhile the top five will be doing everything they can to pick up podiums, to give them a headstart in the showdown.

So there’s an interesting make-up to the meeting, and best of all it’s on the Grand Prix layout, which is always a treat. It’s been a long time since I’ve been round the back of the circuit. I can’t wait.

Is it Isle of Man TT time again? Yes, yes it is. In fact, practice gets under way tomorrow for newcomers – and there’s a full schedule on the official site here.

The good news is that ITV4 will be covering the event once more. Why is that good news? Because last year the coverage was staggeringly good – and of course it’s on lovely Freeview. It’s pretty much the same deal as last year: an hour of highlights per night, from Thursday 3rd June to Friday 11th June. Plus repeats.

Inoffensive Craig Doyle will present again, and the intriguing combination of Steve Parrish and James Whitham returns to the commentary box. Frankly, as long as there’s liberal use of high motion cameras – which provided the amazing slow-motion footage last year – then I’ll be happy.

Plus, if last year is anything to go by, ITV4 will be following the ever surprising Guy Martin at every opportunity. He is excellent TV value.

If you fancy a bit of road-racing in advance of the TT, and like me forgot to watch any of the North West 200 a couple of weeks ago, then you’d be advised to peruse the plentiful video BBC Sport NI recently added to its NW200 website.

Steve Parrish is in the box for this too, so it’s a handy reminder that it really is just Charlie Cox making the BBC’s MotoGP commentary painful. Parrish need not be feared.

The second superbike race is particularly recommended, so what the hell, I’ll include it here. Guy Martin has an eventful time – let’s not forget that he’s a proper racer, as well as a jolly entertaining tea-drinking bloke – and there’s a great scrap at the front.