Farquhar pleased with 110% commitment and his fastest-ever TT lap
Ryan Farquhar was disappointed not to win the Royal London 360 Superstock TT after a stunning ride, but says he was happy to take a strong second place.
The Dungannon star dominated the early pace of Monday’s four-lap race at the 2010 Isle of Man TT, but lost out on victory when Ian Hutchinson produced a record-breaking speed on the final lap.
Four-times Duke Road Race Rankings champion Farquhar produced his own fastest lap round the 37.73-mile circuit on lap four – at an average speed of 129.883mph. He was within the old Superstock lap record, but lost out on the win by just 1.32 seconds as Hutchy had already crossed the line with a new class lap record of 130.741mph, the first time a Stocker has lapped at the TT at more than 130mph.
Farquhar got off to a flying start on the KMR Kawasaki and a superb opening lap of 129.848mph, just a whisker outside the lap record, saw him take 6.78s lead over fellow countryman Michael Dunlop, and he extended this gap on the second lap.
An even better speed of 129.816mph saw him forge further clear, his advantage up to 8.8s over new second placed man Hutchinson.
Hutchinson had a quicker pit stop and took over the lead, but by the time they got to Glen Helen on the third lap, Ryan was back in the lead by 1.4s, a gap that he’d increased to 5.54s at the end of the lap.
On the final lap, Hutchinson began to eat into Farquhar’s lead. By Ramsey Hairpin, two thirds of the way around the lap, Farquhar was back in second and almost two seconds adrift. He rode harder, and faster, than ever before over the Mountain and although he reduced the deficit by half a second he fell agonisingly short at the line.
Earlier in the day, Farquhar had finished in ninth place in the first Monster Energy Supersport race, to make it three top 10 finishes from three starts. He still has two more chances this week to add to his impressive TT record.
Speaking after Monday’s racing, Farquhar said:
“I’m happy with second and I gave it 110% all the way, that’s as good as I've ever ridden around here. I knew the Superstock race would give me my best chance this week, but also knew that there would be 4-5 other riders who'd be in with a chance so I just rode as hard as I possibly could.”
“I’m obviously a bit disappointed not to have won, having led for so long, but I caught a few backmarkers around the Cronk-y-Voddy section on the final lap and it cost me a bit of time.”
“Take nothing away from Hutchy though, he’s been on the top of his game all week, so to be within 1.3 seconds after 150miles of racing is no bad thing and I’ve got to say a big thank you to everyone who’s helped me, especially Nick Morgan and Kawasaki UK and all my sponsors. Nick lent me an engine and we were up until 11.30pm last night, but she never missed a beat and was absolutely flying.”
“I’m well pleased with my lap times and with the runner-up spot so it's been a good day.”
He added:
“In the 600cc race, I rode as hard as I could and whilst we had the top end speed, it was just taking us slightly longer to get there, but I had a good dice on the roads with Dan Kneen and enjoyed the last two laps.”
“He was quicker than me in some places and vice versa and we got held up by yellow flags from Ballaugh until Kerromoar so I just brought the bike home for another top ten finish. Hopefully, we’ll be a bit higher up in Wednesday’s race.”