Farquhar out as racing continues at the 2011 Isle of Man TT
TT winner Ryan Farquhar has been ruled out of the rest of the 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy due to injuries suffered in a practice fall.
The KMR Kawasaki rider came off at Keppel Gate in the closing stages of Friday’s practice session, the last of the week. He hit a false neutral on his Superbike machine – an identical problem to that suffered by Cameron Donald in 2009 – and although he escaped without any broken bones, the Dungannon ace has had to admit he is too battered and bruised to race on.
He said:
“The final evening of practice was going well and we were certainly heading in the right way after the problems we'd had earlier in the week but it all went wrong when I went through Keppel Gate.”
“I was back down for two gears for the right hander and then down one more gear for the left but I hit a false neutral in between the two corners and ran off the track. I managed to save the bike and was skirting the barriers but just when I thought I'd saved it, the final barrier came back out towards the course and I hit it head on and down I went.”
“It really knocked the stuffing out of me but I wasn't knocked out or anything like that and remembered it all and thought I'd be ok to race on Monday. The plan was to get out of hospital on Saturday and get the Superstock bike prepared for Monday's race, but I've had to admit that it's simply not possible.”
“I haven't broken anything, but I'm extremely stiff and sore with my ribs and back, especially, causing me a lot of discomfort. It's hard to ride at the TT when you're 100% fit so there's no way I can ride for the rest of the week and I've got to face up to that fact.”
“I'm absolutely gutted as the TT is my main event of the year but, at the same time, it could have been worse so I'm grateful that my injuries aren't too bad. I just need to take it easy over the next few days, get plenty of rest and look to getting myself fit again as soon as possible.”
Racing at the 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy continues today with the Monster Energy Supersport 1 and Royal London 360 Superstock TT races.
The Mountain road is due to close at 9.30am with the rest of the course closing at 10am. The four-lap Supersport race is due away at 10.45am, with the Superstock, also four laps, due to start at 3.15pm.
You can follow all the action as it happens with TT Live!