In Grid Talk this fortnight, young West Aussie Jayden Martin and his dad Grant talk about the road to the British championship and where he’d like to end up.

Grant, how did Jayden get involved with the team initially?

It all began at Misano last year when Jay was there testing for the R3 Cup. We were in the paddock and met a gentleman called Michael Hand and his daughter Katie, who was there as a wildcard for a bit of testing. They were the only other people who spoke English with just about everyone speaking in Italian or Spanish. 

We hit it off immediately and he was very happy with the way that Jay performed and adapted to the track. Our friendship and relationship developed over the year and again at Donington they were there with Katie and we started a dialogue around that time. Michael was asked to form the brand-new team for Macadams – MIH Solutions/Macadams Triumph Racing. 

Michael approached me and said he would like Jay to be on the team as a fully supported Triumph rider. At that time we had been looking at a few different championships – the American Supertwins championship being one, but this opportunity came up and they not just offered him a ride but also a place to stay and full support throughout the year. 

Triumph in 2024 has gone into a development program, so in conjunction with Steve Sargent, who is the head of Triumph Racing in the UK, they developed a feeder program with the new Pirelli National Sportbike Series, which runs the new Daytona 660. So there is an opportunity to move into BSB Supersport from there, and from there into the world championship or Moto2 running the Triumph package. 

Most of the riders in the series have stepped down from other BSB classes and Jay is the youngest rider at 16 and is one of just a few who have stepped up from smaller-capacity bikes. As an example, Richard Cooper, who is 42 years of age, has won multiple titles and the North West 200 so he is a really good benchmark to work off.

At just 16 years of age Jayden Martin is up against seasoned veterans in BSB’s new Pirelli National Sportbike Series

Jayden, tell us a bit about the team and how your season is unfolding so far?

The Macadam team was formed around 1960 and is a very prestigious team based in Leicestershire. This year they’re running three riders in the new Sportbike series – Aaron Silvester, Katie Hand and myself. We are racing the Triumph 660 against the Yamaha YZF-R7 and the Aprilia RS660. 

The season is going great for me. In every race so far with the exception of one DNF, I have finished inside the top 10. I have been seventh or eighth most of my races, so I’m pretty happy with the season so far. The bike is an amazing package. We run a crazy electronics system which gives me a massive – like a TV screen – dash. I can change lots of little things onboard while riding. And I have a data engineer who when I come in from each session runs the bike and checks everything through.

Martin is a long way from sunny WA but out in front on a dreary UK early-season day

What’s the level of competition you’re up against?

It’s definitely world class. There is Richard Cooper, who is a multiple BSB champion in several different classes. And there’s riders like Edoardo Colombi, who has just come over to the UK from Italy after winning the Italian championship riding the Aprilia RS660, so the class is very fast indeed.

How have you adapted to living overseas and away from your family and friends?

It is obviously very difficult being away from everybody for such long periods of time, although dad has been with me up until now. But you get into a routine and it just becomes a normal everyday way of life. So no real issues at all.

What are your goals for the remainder of the season?

There are still eight rounds remaining (at the time of the interview) and I would like to finish in the top five for the remainder of the rounds, but finishing top 10 is probably more realistic. At present, I am eighth overall out of 29 riders.

With father Grant on the grid

We hear fellow West Aussie and former BSB rider Sam Clarke is pretty involved in your development?

So Sam is my coach in Australia and Western Australia, but I am constantly on the phone to him after every single ride. He wants to know how I went and just everything in general; how the bike feels, how I’m feeling in myself and as a rider; we work together as a team every day when I am at the track. 

I give as much feedback as possible to him. Sam knows every track in the UK – every corner. For example if I tell him about a particular corner at Oulton Park he knows exactly where it is on the track and with the TV coverage he is able to do a full video hook-up and do a post-race analysis with me, and we work through the race in detail, which is really beneficial. 

Sam puts a lot into the sport here and also mentors two other local WA riders in Calvin Moylan, who races in Supersport 300 in ASBK with the Race DNA team, and Joel Jenzen locally.

Tell us about your achievements in Australia.

Since 2019, both in junior road racing and supermoto, I’ve won a total of 12 state championships. I was twice runner-up in the state and finished third overall in the national Supermoto championship.

In 2022 I attended both the Red Bull Rookies selection event and Asia Talent Cup selection event and the next year I was selected to be a part of the Yamaha European Blu Cru Championship in Europe, where I gained significant international track experience.

Triumph is throwing factory support behind Martin’s 660, including a race kit developed with PHR Performance (Peter Hickman Racing)

What are your long-term goals?

My goal for the remainder of this year is to gain as much experience racing in BSB and learning a lot of new tracks. The goal is to continue in BSB in 2025 and progress to a factory-supported role in British Supersport.

 From there, I’d like to either move into a World Supersport team, or possibly move up to a Superbike in the British Championship.

 The long-term goal is to eventually move to the Superbike championship within one of the European series.