Ryan Farquhar put behind him the disappointment of two previous retirements to finish in a superb third place in Monday's Superstock TT race. 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 third. It was his 11th Isle of Man TT podium in total and made up for the problems encountered in both the earlier Supersport race and Saturday's Superbike encounter.
The 4-lap Superstock TT was always going to give Ryan one of his best chances of success and so it proved when an opening lap of 128.034mph placed him in second place and just 0.17s behind TT legend 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 Ryan was only 3.99s behind McGuinness and 10.31s clear of third place rider Bruce Anstey. McGuinness continued to increase his advantage but Ryan was now experiencing an oil leak as well as visibility difficulties in the low, evening sun and this, combined with a flying Michael Dunlop, meant that his second place was under threat. He had to ease his pace slightly in the closing stages, which allowed Dunlop to seize second, and so at the end of over 150 miles of high speed racing Ryan took a well deserved third place.
Earlier in the day, Ryan had been on course for another strong result this time in the 4-lap Supersport race when he was lying in fifth with just a few miles of the race to go. In one of the most thrilling TT races ever, Ryan was involved in a race long battle with McGuinness once more but on the final lap it looked like he'd secured fifth place as the gap between the two was almost five 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 Ryan was forced to retire at Creg ny Baa just a few miles from the finish.
Meanwhile, team-mate 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.
"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 second, 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.," said Farquhar.
"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 second, 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."
"It makes up for the disappointment of the two previous retirements and I was gutted to retire from fifth in the Supersport race earlier in the day. The wee bike was going really well and although I was in eighth 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 fifth 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."
