Farquhar in 'good shape' for 2012 TT after more race-winning success
Isle of Man TT winner Ryan Farquhar says he is in ‘good shape’ for the Royal London 360 Superstock race at the 2012 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy.
He was speaking after scoring yet another victory on the KMR Racing Kawasaki machine, this time at the Tandragee 100 at the weekend.
It was a positive meeting for the Dungannon racer, as he took three victories and the Man of the Meeting Award. With 14 wins from 17 races so far this season, Farquhar says he is ready for his TT assault, and particularly looking forward to campaigning the competitive Superstock machine.
Farquhar won Saturday’s Open, SuperTwins and Moto 450 races and took two extremely hard-fought runner-up spots behind Michael Dunlop in the Supersport and feature Superbike events.
In the Open race Farquhar, with a good start, led Dunlop by 0.6 seconds at the end of the first lap. The duo soon began to pull away from the rest of the field and as the race entered the second half, Farquhar edged away from Dunlop, opening up a significant gap and finishing 3.25s clear of his rival.
The same pair went head-to-head in the Supersport 600cc race, but this time it was even closer with the lead changing hands on a number of occasions. Dunlop prevailed, just, the gap to Farquhar at the end of the 5 laps just 0.096s!
However, Farquhar didn't have to wait long for his second win of the day with a start-to-finish victory in the Moto 450 race.
It was a similar story in the Supertwins race, with a massive 15.4s margin of victory.
In the main event, the Tandragee 100 Superbike race, Farquhar and Dunlop put on the race of the day with a furious battle that went the entire race distance. There was nothing to choose between them, with both taking turns in the lead, but, on the final lap, Dunlop grabbed the lead and held on to edge Farquhar out by just 0.9s.
Farquhar’s KMR teammate Jamie Hamilton, who will make his TT debut this year, had a mixed day around the 5.5-mile circuit, retiring from the first Superbike race with a broken radiator as he fell victim to all the stones that were being kicked up from the recently resurfaced circuit, but taking third in the SuperTwins race despite the lack of track time.
Farquhar said:
“It’s been another great day, albeit a tough one both with the hard, competitive races and with the circuit not being in the best of shape. The recent resurfacing meant there were still a lot of stones lying around and unless you were out front, you were going to receive the worst of them.”
“Fortunately, I managed to make good starts in all the races and in the first Superbike race I was able to keep Michael at bay and edge away in the closing stages for a good win. Jamie's radiator got punctured though and that meant his day on the big bike was sadly over.”
He added:
“The Moto 450 and SuperTwins races gave me two comfortable wins, but the other two races were anything but and it was really close between Michael and myself. He was riding really well and it was good, clean racing so I thoroughly enjoyed myself out there and can't be unhappy with two close seconds.”
“There was nothing between us in either race but he just managed to edge by along the final straight on the last lap, but I'm happy enough especially with the performance of the Superstock bike. I'm really looking forward to the NW200 and TT races on it as it's handling really, really well so we're looking in good shape.”
“I'm really looking forward to the North West now and although I've a bit of work to do with the Superbike and a couple of Supertwin engines, we're looking good. That's 14 wins now for myself this season and 17 in total for the team so let's hope this good run continues!”