Farquhar hoping to make up for lost time as TT2011 practice continues
TT-winner Ryan Farquhar is hoping to put three days of frustration behind him when the fourth practice session of the 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy gets under way this evening.
The KMR Kawasaki rider has suffered a series of problems and struggled to complete a flying lap on any of his machines. On Monday evening, the opening practice session there were damp conditions around the course and speeds were down on what everyone has become accustomed to in recent years.
Taking his all-new Superbike out for the first time Farquhar completed two laps, the fastest at an average of 119.502mph. Although it was early days, he was happy with the initial performance of the machine.
With far better conditions on Tuesday evening, the pace of the main contenders increased considerably and Farquhar’s opening lap on the Superbike was a more rapid 124.051mph.
However, as he quickened his pace on the second lap, he started to notice a slight problem with the engine and pulled in at Kerromoar, about 20 miles around the 37.7-mile course. That meant he was stranded with no way of getting back to the paddock and missed out on a full session of practice, his main rivals completing 5 laps.
With the Superbike out of action until Thursday, Farquhar got his first laps in on the Superstock machine on Wednesday evening, which again saw good conditions. He was able to complete 2 laps, the best at 124.394mph to go fourth quickest, but overheating problems forced him to stop at Sulby before he was able to proceed later on in the session.
He jumped onto the Supersport bike for the first time this week and two steady laps late in the session saw him put in a speed of 119.790mph.
There will be a chance for him to make up for lost track time during this evening’s fourth session, which it is hoped will get away on time. Rival Keith Amor will sit out this evening’s session after injuring his right shoulder in a fall at Quarterbridge on Wednesday.
Medics have advised the Scot to take a day off and he hopes to return to action during Friday’s final practice session to assess how bad the injury is before deciding on his involvement in Race Week.
Tonight, the Mountain section of the course is due to close at 5pm, with the rest of the course closed at 6pm. The first solo machines are due to leave the TT Grandstand at 6.20pm, with the sidecar session scheduled to start at 8pm. Roads will start re-opening no later than 9.30pm, with the Mountain section open one hour later.
Farquhar said:
“It’s been a frustrating week so far and we’ve had nothing but problems to say the least!”
“With Monday being damp, we just had a couple of steady laps and Tuesday was the night when I really wanted to get stuck in properly, but coming through Sulby Bridge and Ginger Hall, the engine made a slight noise so I pulled in just round the corner at Kerromoar and that was my night over as there’s simply no way of getting back from there.”
“I lost a really good session that night, but I went back out on the stocker on Wednesday only to run into a few overheating problems. I got a half decent lap in, but I've got a fair way to go yet before I'm where I want to be.”
“Losing the track time has put us on the back foot a bit, but that's the Isle of Man for you so we'll be back out on Thursday to give it a go and, hopefully, get the bikes closer to where I want to be.”
“The first race is right around the corner now so we need to get some good laps in otherwise it's going to be a longer fortnight. The saying goes ‘bad practice week, good race week’, so I'm hoping that's the case!”
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