Ryan Farquhar’s domination of the 2008 Irish road racing season continued on Sunday when the Dungannon rider took a brilliant hat-trick at the Walderstown road races held in County Westmeath, Southern Ireland. Riding the Harker Kawasaki’s, Ryan’s day got off to the perfect start with a comfortable win in the Open race and he came home almost eight seconds clear of his nearest rival, Adrian Archibald. It was a lot closer in the Supersport 600cc race as William Dunlop pushed him all the way and such was the pace over the 8 laps, the dicing duo broke the absolute lap record for the 2-mile circuit. Dunlop nosed ahead on the final lap but Ryan fought back and with a new lap record of 101.765mph, he got the verdict by 0.877 seconds. He completed his hat-trick with another superb ride in the Grand Final and he took his ZX-10 Kawasaki round quicker still, hoisting the lap record to a new high of 103.190mph to romp home 7.8 seconds clear. Speaking later, a delighted Ryan said: ‘It was hectic stuff getting here from the Southern 100 but practice went well and the bikes were working really well. The Open race couldn’t have gone any better but William was riding really well in the 600cc race and played a good, waiting game behind me. He got by on the final lap but I managed to find a way through and to break the outright lap record on a 600cc machine shows how fast the race was. It looked like it may rain in the Grand Final but, luckily, it stayed away, and I managed to pick up another good win.’ ‘The new Dunlop tyres are simply brilliant and I cannot speak highly enough of them. I’ve used the same set now for the last 3 meetings Skerries, the Southern 100 and Walderstown but there’s still plenty of wear left in them and they’re giving me so much grip, stability and durability, it’s awesome. They really are the best tyres I’ve ever used and I’ve got to say a big thank you to all the boys at Dunlop for their tremendous support throughout this season.’ Ryan now heads to the Kells road races, which take place on Sunday 20th July, where he will be firmly intent on extending his winning run.