Ryan Farquhar 'over the moon' with first TT podium of 2012
Wednesday 06 June 2012
TT
Ryan Farquhar was ‘over the moon’ at taking his first podium finish at the 2012 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy, despite losing 2nd on the final lap of the Royal London 360 Superstock race to the charging Michael Dunlop.
The result in Monday evening’s race made up for the disappointment of being forced to retire in both the opening races of the 2012 TT.
The KMR Kawasaki rider was in contention for the win early on as he pushed eventual victor John McGuinness hard, but an oil leak slowed him in the closing stages and he had to settle for 3rd. It was his 11th TT podium.
The 4-lap Superstock TT was always going to give Farquhar one of his best chances of success and so it proved when an opening lap of 128.034mph placed him in 2nd, just 0.17s behind McGuinness. There was still only 0.3s in it at Glen Helen on the second lap and although McGuinness had widened the gap as they came into refuel at the end of the lap, a speed of 128.341mph meant Farquhar was only 3.99s behind and 10.31s clear of Bruce Anstey in 3rd.
McGuinness continued to increase his advantage and Farquhar found his 2nd place under threat due to an oil leak, visibility difficulties in the low, evening sun and the flying Michael Dunlop.
He had to ease his pace slightly in the closing stages, allowing Dunlop to seize 2nd, and so at the end of over 150 miles of high speed racing Faruqhar took a well deserved 3rd place.
Earlier in the day, Farquhar had been on course for a strong result in the 4-lap Monster Energy Supersport race when he was lying in 5th with just a few miles of the race to go. In one of the most thrilling TT races ever, Farquhar was involved in a race-long battle with McGuinness, but on the final lap it looked like he'd secured 5th as the gap between the two was almost 5 seconds as they went through Ramsey on the final lap.
However, as the riders dropped down the Mountain, the battery on the ZX-6R Kawasaki lost power and Farquhar was forced to retire at Creg-ny-Baa, just a few miles from the finish.
Meanwhile, KMR teammate Jamie Hamilton still awaits his first TT finish after he was forced to retire from the Superstock race. The 21-year-old was lying in 32nd place after posting two 120mph+ laps, but he was forced to stop on the third lap when the battery started vibrating against the subframe causing the earth wire to come loose.
Farquhar said:
“To get a podium in the Superstock race is like a dream come true and although it's a shame I couldn't hold onto 2nd, I'm still over the moon with the result. We had a fair few problems with the bike and I'm very grateful to John Duggan who we borrowed an engine off and also John Holden who lent us a gearbox.”
“I really enjoyed the race and although I didn't get the best of starts, I managed to stay in touch with John and could see him in the distance at a number of places around the course so knew we were pretty even. He began to edge away from me so I concentrated on staying in second but in the final lap, my feet started slipping off the pegs due to an oil leak so I just rode as hard and as steady as I could.”
“It was a hard old race and with sweat running down my forehead, it was getting tricky to see properly especially with the evening sun getting lower in the sky. It was really bad in some places, especially Gorse Lea where I had to 50p the corner, but I kept going and although I thought I'd got 2nd, Michael pipped me.”
“I take my hat off to John for the way he rode at the head of the field and to be sitting here next to him and Michael is something I'm very proud of.”
He added:
“It makes up for the disappointment of the two previous retirements and I was gutted to retire from 5th in the Supersport race earlier in the day. The wee bike was going really well and although I was in 8th place early in the race, it was very tight so I just kept plugging away.”
“Cameron (Donald) came by me and although there were a couple of sections where I felt I was quicker than him, I knew he was up on time on me and probably fighting it out for the lead so I didn't want to mess his race up and sat behind me.”
“It towed me along me a bit and brought me up to 5th, but dropping down the Mountain, the bike lost all power. The stator to the generator broke and that ended up making the battery go flat so it was one of those problems that you only get at the TT!”
“The race was going well and I was riding well so it was a shame but the podium later in the day made up for that so a big thanks to all my team sponsors. Everyone works so hard so it's good to repay everyone with a TT podium.”
“Finally, I'd like to pass on my best wishes to John Holden who had a spill in the sidecar practice, I was very grateful for his help so hopefully he'll be on the mend soon."