Isle of Man TT star Ryan Farquhar hails 'great day' after four wins
Ryan Farquhar’s preparations for the 2012 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy continued in successful style as he dominated the the Cookstown 100 road races.
The KMR Kawasaki rider was in scintillating form around the 2.1-mile Orritor circuit on Saturday, taking four wins including the feature Superbike event, extending his record number of wins at the event to 27.
It was a great day all round for the team as Jamie Hamilton, who will make his TT debut this year, finished in 2nd, behind Farquhar, in the SuperTwins race and also claimed two top 10 results in the Superbike races.
The meeting didn't get off to the greatest of starts for two-times TT winner Farquhar as an incident in Friday evening's practice session saw him catch his knee on a sandbag and be pulled off the side of the bike.
As he fought to keep control, he also clipped a recticel barrier and not only did he hurt his knee, he also bent the bottom yoke of the bike, his 2009 Superstock machine.
Fortunately, it didn't stop him from racing on Saturday and, once the organisers had resolved a dispute with a local farmer, the day got off to a good start with a solid second place in the opening Superbike race behind fellow Isle of Man TT star Guy Martin.
That was Farquhar’s only defeat of the day and after taking a comfortable win, and new lap record, in the Moto 450 race, he led from start to finish in the Supersport 600cc race to win from William Dunlop by 4.1seconds.
Next up was the main event of the day, the Cookstown 100 Superbike race, and the early stages saw Dungannon’s Farquhar go head-to-head with Martin again, only this time with the KMR machine leading the Tyco Suzuki.
At half distance Martin out braked himself, allowing Farquhar to complete his hat-trick and take another 4 second win, this time ahead of Michael Dunlop.
The day then ended for Farquhar with another start-to-finish victory, and another lap record, this time in the SuperTwins race, where his winning margin over teammate Hamilton was 7.5s.
It was another 1-2 for the team after the same result at Scarborough earlier in April. Hamilton also took two 9th place finishes in the two Superbike races, another excellent circuit debut for the 21-year-old.
Farquhar said:
“What can I say, it's been another great day and everything's gone to plan so it's a fantastic start to the Irish road racing season. I could have done without Friday's wee mishap, but it didn't create any issue for race day and we started the day with a good second.”
“I was slightly disappointed though as there were yellow flags being shown where the farmer had the dispute with the organisers about his land. I then got stuck for a bit behind William and by the time I'd got by him, Guy was too far ahead for me to be able to do anything about him.”
“The 450cc race was faultless and then with a great start in the 600cc race I was never headed. William came by off the line, but he overshot the first corner and after that I never saw anyone again."
He added:
"I got a really good start in the main event and had Guy right on my tail for a few laps. He tried to overtake on about lap 5, but I was braking as late as possible so when he came up the inside, I knew he was never going to make it.”
“After that, I was able to bring the bike home and it's great to beat all the Superbikes once more. I decided to ride my ‘09 Superstock bike as I know it inside out and I feel so comfortable on it that I can put it where I want to out on track.”
“I've won tons of races on it and it never lets me down so we'll get plenty more races out of it this season.”
“Jamie had yet another great day too and he's impressing everyone with his results, not just on the SuperTwin, but also on the big bike. He's been a great addition to the team and it's been a great day all round for KMR Kawasaki.”