Ryan Farquhar returns to action in race-winning form
Tuesday 02 August 2011
TT
TT winner Ryan Farquhar has returned race-winning form after a short break from the Irish National scene.
The Dungannon star turned out for Saturday’s Armoy races, his first national road race outing since June, and took two wins, two second places and two laps records in his five races.
It was only a holed radiator in the feature race which prevented a 100% finishing record.
Farquhar said:
“The break has done me good and I feel like I'm riding as well as ever, which could be seen in the speeds as the lap records were broken in every class.”
“I'm just focussing on enjoying my racing now and that's exactly how this weekend has been so I'm really looking forward to more of the same next time out.”
The KMR Kawasaki rider’s opening race was the Supersport, where he was back out on his ZX-6R Kawasaki. Michael Dunlop led the race from start to finish, but, behind, Farquhar enjoyed a good battle with Michael Pearson, with little to choose between the pair.
Farquhar was able to edge away in the closing stages to finish second behind Dunlop and 1.3s clear of Guy Martin, who also got the better of Pearson.
In the Open race Dunlop again stole the early advantage before Farquhar was able to sneak ahead. At the end of four laps there was just 0.3s between the front two, but Dunlop slowly began to ease clear as Farquhar found himself locked in another tussle with Pearson.
While Farquhar was quicker in some places, Pearson was quicker in others and the positions changed on a number of occasions. Eventually Farquhar sealed second place.
The 450cc race was a much simpler affair for Farquhar as he ran out victor by some 20.3s, also setting a new lap record of 89.561mph.
That led into the feature Race of Legends event. However, on the 3rd lap, a stone kicked up by one of the lead machines punctured Farquhar’s radiator and he had little option other than to retire, his only DNF of the day.
That left the Supertwins race, and Farquhar took his second win of the day, some 10 seconds ahead of John Burrows with another new record, a lap of 94.881mph.
Farquhar said:
“Everything's been spot-on today and with the exception of the main race, I've had a really good day's racing. I managed to get the 600 going again although I found that the filter in the fuel pump was blocked so that was holding me back a bit in practice but the bike was a lot better in the race.”
“Michael Dunlop was flying and away with it so I had a good dice with Michael Pearson and managed to pull away from him towards the end. It was a similar story in the Open race and although I led on a couple of occasions, Michael was setting a fast pace and I had to let him go.”
“The bike was running a bit rich and although I don't think I could have beaten him, I think it would have been a bit closer had it not been for that.”
“Instead, I had my hands full with Pearson again and whilst I was quicker in some parts, he kept getting by me on the brakes into Armoy village which subsequently held me up a bit as it was hard to find a way by in the section after that.”
“However, I managed to put in a decent pass on him to take another second and followed that up with a good win on the 450.”
“The main race was going well until the radiator got holed and even though we had stainless steel mesh covering it, the stone that got kicked up still put a big hole in it and that was the end of the race for me.”
“I was disappointed not to finish, but I ended the day with a win and a lap record in the Supertwins race so I'm happy enough.”
Farquhar is next in action at the Mid Antrim 150 on Saturday.