Ryan Farquhar (centre) with Czech rider Michal 'Indy' Dokoupil (left) and Derek Sheils at the Armoy Road Races on Friday.

Ryan Farquhar attended his first motorcycle race meeting since he was seriously injured in a crash at the North West 200 in May, with the KMR Kawasaki team boss making an appearance at Armoy on Friday.

The 40-year-old from Dungannon has undergone a series of operations since his accident but is now optimistic that he is finally on the road to recovery.

Farquhar has been a long-time supporter of the Armoy meeting, which is backed by his KMR Kawasaki team sponsor SGS International.

He has been a regular in the Supertwins class at the event, with Jeremy McWilliams also riding alongside Farquhar on the famous black and orange machines at the Irish National meetings in recent seasons.

Farquhar is represented this year by Canadian rider Darren James and the upbeat team boss said he was eager to attend the event to show his support for the Armoy Club.

Speaking in his regular column for the News Letter’s Keep ’er Lit pull-out, Farquhar said: 

“The Armoy club has been good to me over the years so I want to go and show my support.

“Darren James is riding for me at Armoy this weekend and Danny Webb was up for it, but he has other commitments now because he got a Moto3 ride and he’s doing British Supersport as well.

“Jeremy McWilliams isn’t doing it either this year but I’m intending to go along on Saturday because my sponsor SGS International is the main sponsor of the event so I’m looking forward to getting a seat in hospitality and watching a good days’ racing.”

Giving the latest update on his recuperation, Farquhar added: 

“My recovery is going slowly but hopefully it’s going in the right direction. After my last visit to the hospital, I’m hoping to be back on the straight and narrow now.

“It’s probably been 10 or 11 weeks since my accident but it’s only in the last two weeks that I’ve started making progress. The first time I got out of hospital I had three weeks in between going back again and I made no progress at all really.

“But since my last operation I’ve definitely come on and I can do some things a bit easier. I’m still depending on my wife Karen doing a lot of things for me but I’m able to get in and out of the car a bit easier, though I’m still not great on my feet,” Farquhar said.

“I was taking an awful lot of tablets but I’m off them now and I’m able to eat some of the food I want to eat, so hopefully in another couple of months I’ll be able to move about a lot better.”

Kyle White