Post by Phil on Oct 7, 2013 22:54:56 GMT
Farquhar considers race return for British Superbikes challenge
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
RYAN Farquhar's KMR Kawasaki team would well be competing in British Superbikes next year!
And he is planning to scale back his national road race operations and hasn't categorically ruled out a return to racing.
Ryan would enter his team in the likely new Supertwins class, which he himself has largely pioneered, and he is hoping to secure the funding to be able to move into the new class in BSB for 2014.
And Ryan, who retired from road racing in August 2012 following the death of his uncle Trevor Ferguson at the Isle of Man TT, says a return "could happen" if he could get the team into BSB.
Speaking to the Courier for our special Extra Time feature (see centre pages) following the conclusion of his first year as solely a team boss, Ryan said a return was still unlikely, but not something he could 100 per cent rule out.
And, talking about his keenness to pursue the BSB possibility, Ryan says he would like to run up to three riders in it and take part in the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.
“I've been talking to the officials at the minute to try and help them set things up," he says. "It'll be a new challenge.
“The proper funding would have to be in place to do it properly, but if I had a choice I would like to give that a go and do the North West and TT alongside it and see how it goes.
“I wouldn't mind seeing how I got on with it and just concentrate on running a proper Supertwin team and scaling down the 600s and 1000s.
“My dream team would be Jamie Hamilton, Jeremy McWilliams and possibly running a third man."
And that third man could just be Ryan himself. After being asked if he thinks he'll miss riding if his team enters BSB next year, Ryan said: "I'm not saying that it won't eat at me but come next March I could be in a different mindset.
“At this moment in time, no, but maybe over the winter it'll change. All it takes is a thought to come into your head and say 'I wouldn't mind having a go at it'. Never is a long time. It could happen, I don't know."
While he's not sure of his own future next year, it's also still not clear if enough sponsors will be found to fund a run in BSB.
“Everything's going to hinge on the funding," says Ryan. "The Vauxhall thing was only a one year deal, I'm not tied to them and they're not tied to me. Everything's up in the air at the minute and we'll see how it pans out.
“We have won the majority of the Supertwins races at national road race level, won the North West, TT and Ulster Grand Prix, but this is something new and I wouldn't intend doing it for five seasons or anything, but I'd like to have a go at it.
“I haven't spoken to anyone yet about funding, I'm just trying to get the loose ends tied up on this year. I just want to get the year out of the way and take it from there."
Ryan says he would need to do more research on how the championship would run, but says KMR would be competing in the national road races if this were to fall through.
“I need to find out the ins and outs of it," says Ryan. "It will be run over eight rounds which would make a big difference. I would like to build my team on the back of that and the North West and TT.
“At this moment in time, if I don't get the funding to do the BSB we'll probably go road racing, but at the moment I'd be trying to push just the North West and TT and the BSB.
“I'd love to be able to do that; running a few riders in the BSB and challenging to have a British Championship to add to my CV."
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
RYAN Farquhar's KMR Kawasaki team would well be competing in British Superbikes next year!
And he is planning to scale back his national road race operations and hasn't categorically ruled out a return to racing.
Ryan would enter his team in the likely new Supertwins class, which he himself has largely pioneered, and he is hoping to secure the funding to be able to move into the new class in BSB for 2014.
And Ryan, who retired from road racing in August 2012 following the death of his uncle Trevor Ferguson at the Isle of Man TT, says a return "could happen" if he could get the team into BSB.
Speaking to the Courier for our special Extra Time feature (see centre pages) following the conclusion of his first year as solely a team boss, Ryan said a return was still unlikely, but not something he could 100 per cent rule out.
And, talking about his keenness to pursue the BSB possibility, Ryan says he would like to run up to three riders in it and take part in the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.
“I've been talking to the officials at the minute to try and help them set things up," he says. "It'll be a new challenge.
“The proper funding would have to be in place to do it properly, but if I had a choice I would like to give that a go and do the North West and TT alongside it and see how it goes.
“I wouldn't mind seeing how I got on with it and just concentrate on running a proper Supertwin team and scaling down the 600s and 1000s.
“My dream team would be Jamie Hamilton, Jeremy McWilliams and possibly running a third man."
And that third man could just be Ryan himself. After being asked if he thinks he'll miss riding if his team enters BSB next year, Ryan said: "I'm not saying that it won't eat at me but come next March I could be in a different mindset.
“At this moment in time, no, but maybe over the winter it'll change. All it takes is a thought to come into your head and say 'I wouldn't mind having a go at it'. Never is a long time. It could happen, I don't know."
While he's not sure of his own future next year, it's also still not clear if enough sponsors will be found to fund a run in BSB.
“Everything's going to hinge on the funding," says Ryan. "The Vauxhall thing was only a one year deal, I'm not tied to them and they're not tied to me. Everything's up in the air at the minute and we'll see how it pans out.
“We have won the majority of the Supertwins races at national road race level, won the North West, TT and Ulster Grand Prix, but this is something new and I wouldn't intend doing it for five seasons or anything, but I'd like to have a go at it.
“I haven't spoken to anyone yet about funding, I'm just trying to get the loose ends tied up on this year. I just want to get the year out of the way and take it from there."
Ryan says he would need to do more research on how the championship would run, but says KMR would be competing in the national road races if this were to fall through.
“I need to find out the ins and outs of it," says Ryan. "It will be run over eight rounds which would make a big difference. I would like to build my team on the back of that and the North West and TT.
“At this moment in time, if I don't get the funding to do the BSB we'll probably go road racing, but at the moment I'd be trying to push just the North West and TT and the BSB.
“I'd love to be able to do that; running a few riders in the BSB and challenging to have a British Championship to add to my CV."
