Ryan Farquhar's hopes of success at Saturday's Ulster Grand Prix were thwarted by the Irish weather and, after torrential rain hit the entire province, the organisers were left with little option other than to abandon the races, the first time in its 86-year history that such an outcome had occurred.

Ryan came into the 'Prix keen to add to his tally of four GP wins and his chances had been boosted by a late deal to ride the JMF Millsport Superbike and Supersport Yamaha's alongside his regular Harker Kawasaki. However, right from the beginning of the event, circumstances conspired against the riders and Wednesday's practice sessions also fell victim to the weather.

Qualifying sessions were held on Thursday afternoon and Ryan was able to put his Harker Kawasaki into third place for the Superstock race, with his lap of 128.475mph inside the class lap record and only 0.767s off the pole position time. In the Supersport class, he took the R6 Yamaha to ninth on the grid in the drying conditions with times incredibly close. The wet Superbike session was not what Ryan required to set up the machine and with frequent visits to the pits to make adjustments, he was down in 17th.

However, Thursday's Dundrod 150 Superbike was also cancelled and with heavy rain falling all day on Saturday, the Ulster GP races were also called off with Ryan left to rue what might have been.

Speaking on Sunday, the Dungannon rider said: "It's really disappointing to have the meeting cancelled, especially as the organisers have put in so much work, but it's just one of those things and there's not a lot we can do about the weather - I've never seen floods like it. I was really looking forward to the Superstock and Supersport races as the bikes were working really well and I felt very confident that we would have been in contention for the wins so it's a real shame.'

"We were struggling with the set-up on the Superbike as we simply didn't have enough time to make the changes we wanted but, as it turned out, we never got the chance to race at all. Like, I say, there's not a lot we can do about the weather so I'm looking forward now to the Manx Grand Prix. I've got some good machinery and I don't think we'll be too far away in either of the races so it should be good fun and I'm hopeful of grabbing some good results."

Ryan will be riding Roger Winfield's Paton and Honda machines in the Senior and Junior Classic Manx Grand Prix races with the races taking place on Monday 25th and Wednesday 27th August.