Ryan Farquhar

Ryan Alan Robert Farquhar (born 2 February 1976, Dungannon, Northern Ireland) is a professional motorcycle racer who primarily competes in road racing.

Farquhar won the Dukes Road Racing Rankings four times.

He won five races at the Cookstown 100 in one day and now holds the most Irish national wins by any one rider, at 201.

He previously raced a Kawasaki ZX-10R, a Kawasaki ZX-6R and a Kawasaki ER6.

Farquhar was known as one of the best riders to have never won an Isle of Man TT race – despite breaking the lap record in 2003 in the 600 class.

That changed in 2004, when he won the Production 600 race on a Kawasaki.

He then won the 2005 TT Supersport, giving him two victories on the Isle of Man.

On 28 April 2006, Ryan signed a new deal to ride with the factory TAS Suzuki Racing Team.

Unfortunately, disaster struck at Cookstown road races, the first race of the year.

He was involved in a collision with a back marker in practice where he suffered injuries which ruled him out of most of the season.

In 2008 Ryan was back to his best form dominating races week in week out, and ended the year as a double Irish Champion winning the Irish Superbike road racing championship, the Irish Supersport road racing Championship and finishing first overall in the Duke Road Race Rankings.

Farquhar had agreed to race for the McAdoo Kawasaki Racing Team for the 2008 season.

However, they parted company in the week preceding the Isle of Man TT, meaning Ryan participated in the TT riding for his new sponsor Kenny Harker, in the Superstock 1000 and Supersport 600 classes.

Previously, Farquhar had enjoyed his early taste of success with McAdoo having had competed in the team's colours at such meetings as the Manx Grand Prix.

At the Southern 100 road races, he was able to claim three-second places from his three races.

Racing got underway with the Senior Solo Founders race and on the second of the nine laps, Ryan got into the lead for the first time on his Harker Kawasaki, and began to dice with Guy Martin, Ian Lougher and Conor Cummins in a close formation at the head of the field.

By half race distance, Ryan had been relegated to second by the Superbike of Martin, but he extended his own advantage over third placed Lougher and he was able to take a strong second place at the chequered flag, also setting his best ever lap around the 4.25-mile Billown Circuit at 110.389 mph.

Wednesday's racing was cancelled due to adverse conditions, so Ryan's next race came in Thursday's Supersport 600cc race where he was again embroiled in a terrific battle for the lead.

Ryan, Lougher and Cummins were together throughout the 8 laps with the lead exchanging hands on countless occasions.

He overtook Lougher each time at the final Castletown Corner but the superior acceleration of Lougher's machine saw him back in the lead by the time they reached the finish line and this was how it unfolded on the final lap.

Ryan took another runner-up spot, missing out on the win by just 0.268 seconds although he did have the consolation of setting the fastest lap of the race at 106.534 mph.

With the weather deteriorating all the time, the feature Solo Championship race got underway in very damp conditions and Ryan slotted into second place after the opening two laps.

On the fourth lap, the red flag came out due to an incident and the result declared at three laps thus giving Farquhar his third runner-up spot from his three races.

During a record breaking 2009 season, Farquhar surpassed Joey Dunlop's total of 118 Irish National road race wins, by taking a clean-sweep at Killalane.

By the end of the race meeting, Farquhar had amassed three more than the total set by Dunlop, whilst it also moved him on to a staggering 60 for the season.

2009 saw Ryan chalk up 61 race wins and take 6 National championships.

He was in attendance at the Irish Racer Magazine awards ceremony in Belfast where he picked up both the National Road Racer of the Year and Team of the Year awards.

He received the highly prestigious Duke Road Race Rankings trophy, the third time he had taken this particular award, given to the rider who records the highest number of points over the 25 road races held in the British Isles during the course of the year.

In the Irish Motorcyclist of the Year category, he won third place behind Eugene Laverty, who won the trophy, and Jonathan Rea.

Farquhar beat Laverty and Rea when he was voted the NGK Enkalon Irish Motorcyclist of the Year, by the general public.

For the 2010 racing season, Farquhar joined forces with the MSS Colchester Kawasaki Racing Team for his Superbike campaign.

For the season Ryan campaigned a specially prepared Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R Superbike to race in the Isle of Man TT, North West 200 and Ulster GP road races, whilst he also continued with his own KMR Kawasaki machinery in the Supersport and Superstock divisions.

The Superbike livery was identical colours to the MSS Colchester Kawasaki British Superbike Team, while the 600cc and Superstock machines were styled in Ryan's familiar black and orange livery.

At the 2010 Isle of Man TT, Farquhar took two second-place finishes, in the Superstock and Senior TTs.

Farquhar's tremendous 2010 road racing season continued when he claimed the annual Southern 100 Championship title on the Isle of Man.

Ryan wrapped up his superb 2010 racing season with more success, when he took two wins at the annual Sunflower Trophy races at Bishopscourt.

Proving his dexterity on both the pure-road and short circuits, Farquhar overcame the considerable challenge of Marty Lennon to take both of the Super Twins races thus meaning he ended the year with a total of 60 race wins from his road racing and short circuit exploits, which resulted in Farquhar receiving the 2010 Irish Road Racer of the Year Award.

2011 saw a mixed season for Farquhar.

For the 2016 season, Farquhar was contracted to ride Tyco BMW Racing Team 1000 cc machines, whilst campaigning his own machinery in other events, but suffered serious injuries in a race crash at the North West 200 on 12 May.

He revealed the severity of his multiple-injuries in October 2016, and confirmed his hopes of a return to the sport, but in 2017 commented his fitness to race would be unlikely, that he was unable to exercise due to the injuries, and that he enjoyed his hobby of clay pigeon shooting.