DUNGANNON race ace Ryan Farquhar added a little bit more shine to his impressive CV at the Tandragee 100 road races at the weekend.
The KMR Racing rider became the most successful competitor in the history of the event by taking his total number of wins round the 5.3 mile circuit to 19 when he notched a brace of wins in the Superbike and Supertwins.
Farquhar also set a new lap record for the Supertwins class at 103.694mph.
Yet the day was shrouded in controversy after an incident in the non-championship Superbike race, which was initially won by Manxman Dan Kneen on the Mar-Train racing R1 Yamaha, with Farquhar crossing the line second.
After the race it was alleged that Kneen and Dubliner Derek Shiels had jumped the start, with Farquhar lodging a protest with the meeting’s stewards.
The win was then given to Farquhar, with Kneen and Shiels penalised a minute.
However, both Kneen and Shiels are believed to have lodged appeals over their exclusion which will be heard at a later date within the Ulster Centre.
As it stands, Farquhar won the race, with William Dunlop on the MSS Kawasaki promoted to second place and Malachi Mitchell-Thomas taking third.
Kneen made amends in the feature race of the day, the Around a Pound Tandragee 100 Superbike race, as he powered his Mar-Train R1 Yamaha to a convincing six-second victory over Shiels on the Burrows Racing Suzuki.
The second Burrows Racing rider, Bolton’s Mitchell-Thomas, was third.
In the Supersport 600 race, William Dunlop, on the CD Racing R6 Yamaha, took top spot a second ahead of Kneen, with Mitchell-Thomas again making the podium in third.
Farquhar was the master in the Supertwins race on his KMR Kawasaki ER6 as he claimed victory ahead of Mitchell-Thomas, with Shiels completing the podium places after a fantastic battle at the front.
Farquhar’s experience and skill saw him set a new lap record for the class, with the pressure exerted by the up-and-coming Mitchell-Thomas pushing him to new heights.
Rhys Hardisty (Yamaha) just pipped Saintfield’s Davy Morgan for the 250cc race win with just 0.2 seconds splitting the pair at the finish line.
Sam Wilson, on the Joeys Bar 125 Honda, took the Moto3 victory, and Czech Republic visitor Michal Dokoupil recorded a very popular race win over Seamus Elliott in the 400cc race.
The focus now switches to the Cookstown 100 on the Orritor circuit next weekend.
