RYAN FARQUHAR TAKES HONOURS IN 350CC MOTORSPORT MERCHANDISE RACE AT MANX GRAND PRIX

Overnight rain on the Isle of Man left the mountain course with damp patches for the first race in Monday’s race programme at the Manx Grand Prix Festival, the Motorsport Merchandise 350/250cc race. Damp patches were reported throughout the course and Clerk of the Course, Phil Taubman, advised competitors that there was a lack of adhesion in a number of sections.

Roy Richardson had the honour of being first away on his Martin Bullock Racing 349cc Aermacchi in the 350/250cc class, the 400th race since MGP began in 1923 and he was first on the road to Glen Helen but had been passed on the clock by Chris Palmer, Ryan Farquhar and Chris McGahan. Farquhar passed Palmer by Ramsey to lead by 3.91 seconds, which he extended to 9 seconds by the Bungalow.

That remained the first three at the end of the first lap with Farquhar (98.954) building a fifteen second lead from Chris Palmer (97.876) with Chris McGahan a further 24 seconds back in third. Farquhar extended his lead over Palmer to 24 seconds by the end of the second lap with McGahan holding the remaining podium position.

However with conditions deteriorating around the course and with rain in the North of the Island, the riders backed off although Roy Richardson moved into the top three at McGahan’s expense by the end of the third lap and those three retained their positions to the chequered flag with Ryan Farquhar finishing with a race winning time of 1:32.36.10 (97.787mph), from Chris Palmer (1:33.19.13 – 97.035mph) and Roy Richardson (1:35.20.16 – 94.982).

Ewan Hamilton led the 250cc race, which was running concurrently with the 350ccc race, by Glen Helen from Peter Wakefield and Peter Symes but Symes moved through to lead by a second from Hamilton by Ballaugh.
However, with Symes reported as having stopped at Parliament Square to make adjustments, Hamilton moved into the lead from Wakefield with Barry Davidson making up the top three and that remained the top three at the end of the first lap with Maria Costello MBE a further 3 seconds back in fourth. The Jackson brothers, stalwarts of the Manx Grand Prix, were both out of luck on the first lap with Alan ‘Bud’ Jackson retiring at Ballacraine and Tom stopping at Glen Helen.

At the front of the field, Barry Davidson closed the gap on Hamilton on the second lap and by the end of the second lap he had cut Hamilton’s lead to four seconds as the machines came into the pits and when Hamilton couldn’t fire the ’67 Suzuki T20 machine in the pits, Davidson duly took the lead.

However, with Maria CostelloMBE on the T20 Suzuki not pitting at the end of the second lap, she had moved from fourth to the top spot by Glen Helen, with a lead of almost 9 seconds from Barry Davidson with Peter Wakefield a further 4 seconds back in third. Davidson had halved Costello’s lead to just over 4 seconds by Ballaugh with Peter Wakefield a further 4 seconds back.

With Costello coming into the pits to refuel at the end of lap 3, Barry Davidson again moved into the lead with a 21 second lead from Peter Wakefield with Maria rejoining the race in third place.

That remained the top three with Davidson taking the race with a time of 1:42.30.89 from Peter Wakefield (1:43.08.50) in second but there was drama unfolding for the final podium position.

Maria Costello MBE, who was the first woman to achieve a podium on the mountain course in 2005, having closed the gap to 7 seconds in third place by the Bungalow, she was then reported to as stopping at Governors Dip. She ended up pushing the bike from Governors to the finish line, a distance of around 500 metres eventually finishing with 1:47.31.88.



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