Farquhar gets first outing on IEG BMW machine

Veteran road racer Ryan Farquhar has had his first taste of BMW machinery on the roads, taking to last weekend’s Mid Antrim 150 races on the S1000RR superstock machine he will campaign at the international road races this season.

The long-time Kawasaki rider makes the switch to BMW as part of his deal to replace Guy Martin at Tyco BMW, returning to the squad to deputise for Martin while he takes a year off from his TT commitments.

Struggling at the Mid Antrim as he rode battered and bruised from a crash at Domington Park’s Craner Curves the week before, Farquhar was nonetheless able to take the superstock machine through his paces to finish fourth in treacherous conditions.

 “The crash at Donington left me feeling very second hand and it was probably the fastest crash I’ve ever had so I was definitely on the back foot when I arrived at the Mid Antrim and the wet weather on Friday didn’t help matters. The bad weather turned the paddock into a quagmire and a lot of mud got dragged onto the road but the organisers did a fantastic job under the circumstances and it was good to be back racing at the Mid Antrim as it’s a really enjoyable course and event.

“With the crash at Donington, I’d had very little time on the IEG BMW and although I led for a lap the set-up wasn’t quite right so I played with the traction control a bit to try and help the bike over the bumps and jumps. The bike’s very powerful, it turns well and stops well so once we get some good track time and get the stability sorted, I’m confident we’ll be able to make a great fist of things.”

However, despite riding hurt, the veteran racer was still able to yet again extend his record-breaking tally of road racing wins, adding 450 Lightweight class and Supertwin race victories to his scorecard to bring his total number of wins to an incredible 208.