NW200: Martin Jessopp seeking change in fortunes at Triangle

The Somerset man made his debut in 2008 but grabbed the headlines by clocking a blistering 208mph through the timing beam on a Ducati in 2012, although Jessopp admits he has yet to fulfil his potential on race day.

“The North West has never really worked out for me,” said Jessopp. “It has always seemed to fall apart on race days.

“There is no reason why I can’t go there and get some good results and I still believe I am good enough to get podiums around there.”

Jessopp will ride BMW machinery under the Riders Motorcycles banner once more and finished a strong sixth in the CP Hire Superstock event in 2015.

“I will be on my BMW Superbike as normal and I’ll also ride a BMW in the Superstock races,” he confirmed.

“The BMW is so good out of the box it would be silly not to use it in the stock class especially.”

He will also contest both Supertwins races on a Kawasaki ER-6 and returns to the Supersport class on a Triumph 675 for the first time in four years.

“It feels so slow compared to the Superbike but it is so much fun to ride – a proper little racing machine without the scary speeds,” said Jessopp of the Triumph.

After suffering clutch failure in both Supertwins races last May, Jessopp is determined to make amends next month on the north coast.

“I think I was more than capable of getting a podium or even a couple of wins if the clutch hadn’t let me down in both those races,” said last year’s Macau Grand Prix runner-up.

“We need to get reliability and we have gone to town on building a special ER6 Kawasaki twin for this year. It’s something a little bit different.”