KMR Kawasaki rider Ryan Farquhar enjoyed mixed fortunes at Saturday's International North West 200 road races but the 34-year old did add another podium to his collection when he took a hard-fought third place in a fiercely contested Superstock race. He was also heavily involved in the two Supersport races and although his end results didn't necessarily reflect his efforts, Ryan was happy at the end of the day with his riding.

With qualifying held in a mixture of dry, damp and windy conditions, Ryan ended the two days of action happy with all three machines and was handily placed on the grid for all of his races. His best position was second, and the front row, for the Superstock race and this was backed up with ninth for both the Superbike and Supersport races, good enough for a third row start here.

Despite having to rebuild the engine overnight, Ryan's best race of Saturday was undoubtedly the 5-lap Superstock race which had the 100,000 strong crowd on the edge of their seats right until the very last corner. Despite being slowed up, and nearly falling, on the opening lap when Conor Cummins crashed in front of him, Ryan was right in the slipstream of regular sparring partner Keith Amor at the end of the lap and was still with him on the second before he overshot the Juniper chicane. Dropping back to 4th, Ryan then had to claw back the ground he lost, which he duly did getting back up to 2nd on the penultimate lap. With Alastair Seeley and Ian Hutchinson right behind him, the race was anyone's coming into the final chicane and Ryan had to settle for third as Hutchinson found a way through, less than a second separating the quartet at the chequered flag.

In the two Supersport races, Ryan found his 600cc Kawasaki to be down a little on top speed compared to his rivals and although he was well to the fore at the beginning of the first race, he was pushed back to sixth at the end of the 5 laps although he was only 2 seconds off the race win! In the second, he could only manage 10th with the engine ready for a rebuild prior to the forthcoming TT.

Sadly, the two Superbike races didn't go to plan when, riding the MSS Colchester Kawasaki machine for the first time this year, he was forced to retire from the first shortened 4-lap race due to front axle problems. With this in mind, he switched to his trusty Superstock machine for the feature Superbike race but he was again out of luck, this time retiring at the end of the first lap.


Talking later, Ryan said:

"We've had a few problems over the course of the week but, overall, I'm really pleased with how I was riding on Saturday and I felt as strong as anyone else out there. I knew the Superstock race would be the one where I'd be most competitive and I couldn't have ridden any harder although it nearly ended on the first lap when Conor crashed in front of me - how I stayed on is beyond me as I got launched over his bike motocross style and just took off! Fortunately, it landed wheels down and it was a great race all the way to the end. I had a few problems changing from 1st to 2nd gear when I kept finding neutral and overshooting the chicane didn't help but whilst I obviously would have liked the win, I gave it everything I had and was only half a second off the win at the chequered flag."

"The 600 was handling superbly well and we've got the chassis working perfectly but I was a bit down on speed although in the first race the result could have gone any way and I was in the hunt right until the very end - there were certainly some quick riders behind me too. We'd been chipping away with the Superbike all week but we had a problem in the first race with the front axle and we didn't have a spare one with us so I had to take the Stocker out again. The 600cc engine has gone away to be rebuilt and my main priority now is to get the Superstock bike totally refreshed as it took a bit of a hammering after Conor's crash. The MSS guys are also working really hard now so we should be in a lot better position come the TT. My results could have been a bit better at the NW200 and the finances have taken a bit of a hit with all the problems - I had two helmets destroyed by all the stones - but, like I say, I was happy with how I rode and am really looking forward to the TT now."

It's now on to the Isle of Man TT Races for Ryan and the team with opening practice around the legendary Mountain Course taking place on Saturday 29th May.




Words: Phil Wain - Freelance PR