Northern Ireland’s Ryan Farquhar plans to pay an emotional personal tribute to his fans and loyal sponsors at next weekend’s Gold Cup meeting at Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

Farquhar, who announced his retirement from road racing in an exclusive interview with the News Letter, intends to make the trip to the Oliver’s Mount circuit to participate in a special parade lap to mark the end of his illustrious career.

The 36-year-old has decided to hang up his leathers for good following the death of his uncle, Trevor Ferguson, during a crash at the Manx Grand Prix last week.

Farquhar also revealed that he hopes to continue running his highly successful KMR Racing team in 2013 with up and coming young Ballyclare rider Jamie Hamilton competing in the famous orange livery.

In an official statement, Farquhar said: “I wish I wasn’t retiring under such terribly sad circumstances but it’s happened and we’re all trying to get through the day as best we can.

“I’m hoping Jamie will race at both Killalane and the Scarborough Gold Cup as I know Trevor wouldn’t want him not to.

“I’m also hopefully going to make it to the Gold Cup to take the bikes out for a couple of parade laps as I’d like to say thank-you to all my sponsors and fans, as the support I’ve received from people during my career has been tremendous.

“I’d like to bring Karen [Ryan’s wife] and the girls and Trevor’s family with me too so we can all say a big thank-you to everyone.”

Reflecting on his stunning achievements in motorcycle sport, Farquhar admitted that he “would have loved” to achieve some final goals, but conceded “it wasn’t meant to be”.

“I would have loved to have equalled Bob Heath’s record of 11 wins at the Manx, made it 200 National road race wins in Ireland and 100 at Scarborough later this month, but it’s not meant to be.

“It’s too early to say what the future holds for KMR Kawasaki but, if I can, I’d like to continue running the team,” he added.

“I love the sport dearly so I’d like to pass on my experience to a good, young rider in 2013 - hopefully Jamie - but it will all depend on what sponsorship we can pull together.

“Like I say though, it’s too early to say and there are more important things on my mind at present.”

Mr Ferguson (48), from Castlecaulfield in Co Tyrone, has been a huge influence on Ryan’s career since he began competing in 1995.

He suffered his fatal accident while competing on Farquhar’s Supertwin machine last Wednesday, a race which Dungannon’s Nigel Moore went on to win on a second KMR machine in a cruel twist of irony.

Ryan added: “Our whole world’s been turned upside down and I don’t ever want Karen and my two girls to go through something like this.

“Trevor played a huge part in my career and I made my debut on his bike back in 1995 – I was six-years-old when I first saw him race and he was with me from the very first day of my own racing career right up until the very last.

“He was always 100% behind me and while we didn’t always agree on everything, he was my biggest supporter and there was always plenty of banter.”

Farquhar is the most successful Irish National road racer ever with 199 wins and is a multiple winner at the North West 200, Isle of Man TT and Ulster Grand Prix.

This season, he won the inaugural Supertwin races at the NW200 and TT and completed the full set with victory at the Ulster GP last month.




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