Ryan Farquhar has announced that he will compete in the Superbike classes at the Isle of Man TT for the first time in three years. The Ulsterman announced his retirement following the tragic events at the 2012 Manx Grand Prix but after a return to the mountain course in last year’s Lightweight race, Farquhar will have a stronger presence at this year’s event.
After making his return to racing with Keith Amor at the 2014 TT, the Dungannon rider went on to compete in the Classic TT races aboard Roger Winfield’s Yamaha and Paton, increasing the temptation for a full-time return in 2015.
Reflecting on his TT appearance last year, Farquhar put his lowly seventh place finish down to running just a single bike and a lack of track time compared to his rivals. Keen to avoid such a disadvantage this year, Ryan will run his own production Kawasaki in the RL360 Superstock race and a brand new ER6 in the BikeNation Lightweight TT. But most of all, many will be looking forward to seeing him back in action in the RST Superbike and Dainese Senior TT races and the 38 year old will be on board a high-spec Kawasaki ZX-10R in both.
“To go back to the TT with just the one bike is a waste of time”, he explained. “My intentions last year were to just do a few classic races and ride the SuperTwin at selected races but it left me badly on the back foot. It was a big disadvantage because I wasn’t bike fit but I’m back in training again and I haven’t trained in years, so you can take out of that what you want! I’m not going out there to waste tyres and fuel.”
