Dungannon's Ryan Farquhar ended the Irish road racing season on Sunday with a superb hat-trick at the Killalane road races, which took place on the outskirts of Dublin. The KMR Kawasaki rider took the spoils in the Open, Grand Final and Supersport 600cc races, a win in the latter also seeing him add that particular title to the Senior Road Race Championship he'd wrapped up earlier in the year. However, the day was marred by the tragic death of Victor Gilmore, a rider whom Ryan had ridden against on the public roads for many years, a sad end to a difficult year in Ireland.

On the racing side of things, it was another highly successful day for Ryan as he dominated proceedings around the 3.6-mile circuit although the Dunlop brothers, Michael and William, again made him work hard for his wins. The day got off to the perfect start though in the 6-lap Open race and Ryan was able to lead from start to finish, to eventually come home over nine seconds clear of Michael Dunlop, but this would prove to be his most comfortable race of the day. The Supersport 600cc class had seen Ryan some 3 seconds down on the Dunlops in practice and he wasn't too hopeful of being in with a chance of the win but he dug deep in the race, which was re-started after Gilmore's sad accident.

Ryan went head to head with the Dunlops throughout the race and there was nothing between the trio during the entire 5 laps. Positions changed with frequent regularity but, aided by a new lap record, 110.930mph, it was Ryan who came out on top, his winning margin over Michael Dunlop just 0.075s. The Grand Final saw Ryan again embroiled in a battle with Michael and although he led every lap, his Honda rival was stuck to his back wheel throughout. The lap record was repeatedly broken but Ryan was again able to use all his skill and experience to hold off his rival and he again saw the chequered flag first with Dunlop only 0.074s adrift on this occasion.

The 125cc/Moto 450 race then took place but the red flag soon came out and the remainder of the meeting was cancelled.

Speaking later Ryan said:

"On the racing front it's been a good weekend for me and the team but Victor's accident has not only put a dampener on this weekend it's also put a huge dampener on the sport in general once more. He was a popular rider, someone who I knew well and who I'd competed against for many years. He knew the risks as well as all of us but he loved what he did and my heart goes out to all his family, friends and team. In the first Open race, I just got my head down and it was a fairly comfortable win but the other two races were anything but and Michael especially was putting me under a lot of pressure. I was way off the pace on the 600 in practice and didn't think I stood a chance of winning the Championship but I rode as hard as I possibly could and literally rode the wheels off the bike so it was really satisfying to come out on top. I led the Grand Final from the start but knew Michael was right on my back wheel so I again had to ride as hard as I could to keep him at bay. To finish with a hat-trick and more Championship success is great and I've also been told that I've now equalled Joey Dunlop's total of road race wins in Ireland - NW200, Ulster GP and Nationals - and that's another record that I'm hugely proud of. I've got to say a big thank you to everyone connected to the team, particularly Kawasaki UK for all their continued support, but I'd just like to again extend my sympathy to everyone who was close to Victor - he'll be sadly missed."


Ryan now heads to Oliver's Mount, Scarborough where he'll be competing in the International Gold Cup races this weekend, September 18-19.




Phil Wain - Freelance PR