Ryan Farquhar quite simply dominated proceedings at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough over the weekend and the Dungannon ace took a stunning nine wins from nine starts around the 2.43-mile woodland venue. The KMR Kawasaki rider was in imperious form at the public road circuit and was also able to claim the Cock o’ the North trophy for the first time in his career.
Saturday saw extremely warm, humid conditions on the North Yorkshire coast, which meant it was going to be a tough day for Ryan but, after taking a Superbike heat win, he opened his ‘proper’ race account with a comfortable victory in the first leg of the Supersport 600cc. A quick drink was all he had time for before jumping on the KX450 single for the 125cc/400cc race and he was involved in a race long battle with the 400cc Kawasaki of Mick Goodings before coming out on top by just 0.684s.
It was then back on to the KMR Kawasaki Superstock bike for the 8-lap Superbike race where, aided by the fastest lap of the race – 1m45.728s – he ran out victor by over ten seconds. The races were coming thick and fast and next up was the Minitwins where he saw off the challenges of Ivan Lintin and David Bell to take the chequered flag by almost 4 seconds.
Sunday saw a lot cooler conditions with a strong wind blowing throughout the day and Ryan got off to a great start with a 8.8s victory in the second leg of the Superbikes as he set what proved to be the fastest lap of the weekend at 1m45.704s. The second leg of the 125cc/400cc was again his toughest race of the day but, after sitting in second for the first half of the race, he managed to pass Alistair Haworth to take yet another win, this time by just one second. The second leg of the 600cc was also a lot closer as Michael Pearson took the early initiative but, by half race distance, Ryan was in the lead and he duly took the victory from his fellow countryman by almost two seconds.
The second Minitwins race saw Ryan maintain his 100% win rate and that just left the feature 10-lap Cock o’ the North Open race to negotiate. With a brilliant start once more, Ryan grabbed the holeshot going into Mere Hairpin and, lapping consistently half a second a lap quicker than his rivals, he was able to ease off on the final lap to come home ahead of fellow Kawasaki men Pearson and Ian Lougher to claim another piece of silverware.
Speaking afterwards, a delighted Ryan said;
“Well, it doesn’t get much better than that and to come away with 9 wins from 9 starts is absolutely brilliant! I always enjoy coming to race at Scarborough and this weekend has been no exception and it’s been a superb two days for me and the team. It was quite frantic with the races coming one after the other but the team did a great job in making sure everything was fully prepared and ready and that allowed me to concentrate on my riding.”
“None of the races were easy and the 125/400 races, in particular, were tough as the 400s had quite a speed advantage over my 450 but I was able to utilise the handling and cornering speed of the bike to come out on top. Oliver’s Mount is very physical too with a lot of braking so my hands feel quite sore now and I’m pretty tired but it’s all been worth the effort and I’m over the moon to finally get my hands on the Cock o’ the North Trophy. It’s a busy time of the year for me so let’s hope I can
carry this form over to the next few meetings.”
There’s been no let up for Ryan as he headed to the Isle of Man where he’ll be taking part in this week’s Southern 100 road races with practice getting underway on Monday evening.
Be right back. I am going to go find myself, and if I leave before I get back, make sure to tell me !! -