Courtsey of Phil Wain -Freelance PR
Ryan Farquhar took a brilliant second place in today's 4-lap Superstock race at the Isle of Man TT Races and only just missed out on the victory by 1.32 seconds - after over 150 miles of racing! The KMR Kawasaki rider was also inside the old class lap record with a lap of 129.883mph, his best ever around the Mountain Course, and it now means he has taken 8 podiums in 8 years of racing around the Mountain Course.
Ryan got off to a flying start in the race and a superb opening lap of 129.848mph, just a whisker outside the lap record, saw him take 6.78s lead over fellow countryman Michael Dunlop, and he extended this gap on the second lap. An even better speed of 129.816mph saw him forge further clear, his advantage now up to 8.8s over new second placed man Ian Hutchinson. However, Hutchinson had a quicker pit stop and took over the lead but by the time they got to Glen Helen on the third lap, Ryan was back in the lead by 1.4s, a gap that he'd increased to 5.54s at the end of the lap.
Pictures by Stephen Davison - Pacemaker Press International
Hutchinson, who had already won the opening two races of race week, was determined to complete his hat-trick and slowly, but surely, he began to eat into Ryan's lead. By Ramsey Hairpin, two thirds of the way around the lap, Ryan found himself in second and now almost two seconds adrift. He rode harder, and faster, than ever before over the Mountain and although he reduced the deficit by half a second he fell agonisingly short by just 1.32s. A final lap of 129.883mph was his best ever around the 37 and 3/4 mile circuit and again inside the old lap record but Hutchinson's lap of 130.741mph was enough to see him get the verdict.
Earlier in the day, Ryan had finished in 9th place in the first Supersport race, to make it three top ten finishes from three starts and he still has two more chances this week to add to his impressive TT record.
Speaking afterwards, a pleased Ryan said: "I'm happy with second and I gave it 110% all the way, that's as good as I've ever ridden around here. I knew the Superstock race would give me my best chance this week but also knew that there would be 4-5 other riders who'd be in with a chance so I just rode as hard as I possibly could.
I'm obviously a bit disappointed not to have won, having led for so long, but I caught a few backmarkers around the Cronk y Voddy section on the final lap and it cost me a bit of time.
Take nothing away from Hutchy though, he's been on the top of his game all week, so to be within 1.3seconds after 150miles of racing is no bad thing and I've got to say a big thank you to everyone who's helped me especially Nick Morgan and Kawasaki UK and all my sponsors. Nick lent me an engine and we were up until 11.30pm last night but she never missed a beat and was absolutely flying. I'm well pleased with my lap times and with the runner up spot so it's been a good day."
"In the 600cc race, I rode as hard as I could and whilst we had the top end speed, it was just taking us slightly longer to get there but I had a good dice on the roads with Dan Kneen and enjoyed the last two laps. He was quicker than me in some places and vice versa and we got held up by yellow flags from Ballaugh until Kerromoar so I just brought the bike home for another top ten finish. Hopefully, we'll be a bit higher up in Wednesday's race."
Ryan now has a day off before the second Supersport race takes place on Wednesday at 10.45am.
