Ryan Farquhar claimed his first victory of the 2011 Manx Grand Prix Festival with a commanding performance in the 350cc Motorsport Merchandise race. The Northern Irishman did most of the hard work on the opening lap, pulling out a 15 second lead, and his rivals were simply unable to reel him in.
Roy Richardson led the runners away on his Martin Bullock Racing 349cc Aermacchi as the 400th race in MGP history got underway but by the time he made it to Glen Helen, Chris Palmer, Farquhar and Chris McGahan had all overtaken him on corrected time. Farquhar passed Palmer by Ramsey to lead by 3.91 seconds, which he extended to 24 seconds by the end of lap two.
The unsettled weather conditions were making life tricky and Farquhar was relieved to have a sizeable lead, taking the win by 43 seconds from Palmer. McGahan came unstuck on the damp circuit three laps in and subsequently lost the final podium position to Richardson, with Bill Swallow fourth and David Madsen-Mygdal in fifth.
Ewan Hamilton led the 250cc class in the early stages after the retirement of Peter Symes but a problem firing his bike up in the pits saw him lose the advantage to Barry Davidson.
The RJP Racing rider held off Peter Wakefield for the victory but there was a dramatic finish in the battle for the final podium position. Maria Costello MBE stopped at Governors Dip on the final lap and was forced to push her Suzuki over the final 500m to the finish line, eventually getting there before fourth placed Dave Edwards.
