Ryan Farquhar had an up and down day at the Faugheen 50 road races held on Sunday and while he was able to claim yet another double victory, he also suffered two low-speed spills, which ultimately cost him another brace of victories.
The wins came in both the Championship and Non-Championship Supersport 600cc races and he crashed in the Open races, although Farquhar did have the consolation of setting a new outright lap record.
The Dungannon ace had been due to make a one-off appearance on the JMF Millsport Yamaha R6 but a problem with a fork seal was identified at scrutineering and so Ryan lined up once more on his trusty Harker Racing ZX6 Kawasaki machine for the two 600cc races.
As has been the case in recent weeks, Ryan again went head-to-head with William Dunlop and Keith Amor with the former, in particular, pushing him all the way. Places were exchanged on each and every lap but on both occasions it was Farquhar who prevailed. In the first race, his margin of victory was 0.842seconds whilst it was even closer in the second eight-lap encounter, Ryan coming out on top by just half a second. As well as the two victories, Ryan also lapped comfortably inside his own lap record.
It looked like Ryan had another victory sewn up in the eight-lap Open race but with just a third of the final lap to go, he tipped off at one of the road ends and with rules dictating a rider is unable to re-start after crashing, his race was over.
With only his pride injured, Farquhar was back out on the Harker Superstock Kawasaki for the Grand Final and, after bedding in a new front tyre in the opening laps, he made his charge. Having closed right in on leader Amor, Ryan went inside at one of the road ends but missed his braking marker by a fraction and ran slightly wide.
As he did so, his front wheel hit some of the melting tar that was affecting parts of the 2.2-mile circuit and, for the second time in the day he crashed out, again without injury. A fastest lap of 105.545mph on the fourth lap did, however, give him the new outright lap record.
Speaking at the end of the meeting, Ryan said: “It’s definitely been an up and down day for me but, on the whole, I’m happy with how it all went. It was a shame there was a problem with the JMF Millsport bike but the Harker Kawasaki didn’t let me down and I managed to grab two more, hard fought wins in the 600cc races.
"We were down a wee bit on horsepower compared to the other two bikes and William, especially, was riding really well, so I just rode and braked as hard as I could. We swapped places all the time but I was able to be in front as we headed to the line in each race and I managed to hold him off.”
“In the first Open race, I’d had no problems at all and tipped into the road end on the final lap just as I had done the previous seven laps. I didn’t do anything differently but the front just slid away and down I went, at about 10mph! We fitted a new front tyre for the Grand Final, just to be on the safe side, and I just took things nice and steady in the first few laps.
"After four laps, I made my charge and got by Keith at another of the road ends but I missed by braking marker by no more than three yards. It was enough to send me wide though and, as I did so, the front wheel got stuck in some melting tar and I toppled off – again at 10mph! These things happen though and fortunately, both the bike and me were unscathed.”
“It’s been non-stop since the TT but the season has been going well and I’m really looking forward to the Ulster GP now. We’ve got a bit of a break before then so I’ll be spending a bit of time freshening up the bikes and will look forward to spending a bit of time with the family.”
