Farquhar Denied NW200 Superstock Victory
By: londonbikers.com |
Published 18 May 2009, 23:11 | Views: 1,067 | tags: road racing, nw200, ryan farquhar, superstock 1000
Indeed, weather conditions played havoc with the entire meeting and with Thursday evening's practice session affected by continuous drizzle, the majority of riders' times from Tuesday evening counted for grid positions. Subsequently, Ryan lined up in 4th, 8th and 10th for the Superstock, Superbike and Supersport races.
Race day saw strong winds accompanied by intermittent rain showers but Ryan opened his account with a strong 8th in the first Superbike race, which was stopped after two laps, having led in the early stages on his Superstock machine. Switching to the 600cc ZX-6R Kawasaki, Ryan was again in the thick of the action in the first Supersport race before finishing ninth after four, hard-fought laps.
The Superstock race saw the worst of the conditions but, riding Kenny Harker's Kawasaki, Ryan slotted in to the lead at the end of the first lap. Alastair Seeley then took over at half race distance but with the rain falling heavily, Ryan took command and opened up a lead. However, with conditions worsening, the race was then stopped and although he was comfortably leading at the time, the result went back to the end of the second lap and Seeley was awarded the victory. More controversy followed when the remaining two races, the feature Superbike and second Supersport, were cancelled due to poor track conditions.
Talking later, Ryan said:
"It's been a very disappointing day and I felt that I deserved the victory in the Superstock race. I was comfortable in the lead and was pulling away so for the result to be declared after just two laps is baffling, to say the least. On the plus side, the bike was flying and I was happy with how I was riding but second really should have been first."
"In the Superbike race, I got a great start and with a real good slipstream down to University I managed to take the lead. I rode as hard as I could around the Magic Roundabout to pull away a bit but I knew the Superbikes would come past sooner rather than later and I had to settle for eighth although I was more than happy with that."
"I rode as hard as I could on the 600 but we're still missing the correct camshafts and when we get them at the TT we should be a lot stronger. I was gutted that the final two races were cancelled though as I was ready to race, as were many of the other riders I spoke to. The circuit was changing from soaking wet to damp and then dry but the tyres would have held up so it was disappointing for everyone that the day ended how it did."
Ryan's next outing comes at this weekend's Barry Sheene Classic Race Festival at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough where he'll be riding a 500cc Paton and a 350cc Honda.
Picture by Stephen Davison - Pacemaker Press International
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