Farquhar’s five-timer at Mid Antrim! Ryan Farquhar’s brilliant 2010 road racing season continued on Saturday [July 31] when he dominated the Mid Antrim 150 road races. Competing on the 3.6-mile Clough circuit, the KMR Kawasaki rider won no less than five races, including the Grand Final, extending his tally for the season to 38 victories. The five wins also took him to a total of 22 at the Mid Antrim, comfortably the highest in the 64-year history of the event whilst he now has the unique distinction of holding five lap records, including the outright. It was another wet day for competitors whilst they also had to contend with a surface that was wet in parts, damp in others and then dry elsewhere making tyre choice constantly tricky. Ryan opened his account for the day with victory in the Open race where, after leading at one stage by over 12 seconds, he eased back in the closing laps to lead Adrian Archibald home by 6 seconds. Next up was the Super Twins race where he was pressured in the early stages by fellow Dungannon man John Burrows. As the race wore on, the circuit, which had started fully wet, began to dry up in places but Ryan, despite struggling for grip, was able to edge clear for another comfortable win. The 600cc race saw a repeat of the early Open encounter only this time Archibald led to begin with. Having sat behind him for a couple of laps, Ryan made his move and was able to take his third win of the day. His penultimate race was the 125/450 race where the 450s started in their own group and it was Seamus Elliott who led on his 450 Yamaha until the third lap when Ryan found his way through. Elliott pushed Ryan all the way but eventually pushed too hard and slid off, fortunately without injury, on the final lap and Ryan was not only able to take the 450 win but was also the fastest rider on corrected time. The final race of the day was the Grand Final and with conditions again tricky, it was another close race between Ryan and Archibald. There was little to choose between the two riders as Archibald sat on the rear wheel of Ryan but on the last lap he crahsed out at speed, again escaping injury, allowing Ryan to take an unprecedented fifth win of the day. Speaking later, Ryan said, “It was really tough conditions out there today and very difficult to know what tyres to choose. Some parts of the track were wet, some dry and some were very dirty with mud running on to the course and stuff so it was really slippy out there. Adrian pushed me hard in the Superbike races none more so than in the Grand Final where I just couldn’t shake him off. He was there all the way through and it’s probably the toughest race I’ve ever had in those conditions. I’ve won in the wet before but have always had a bit of a buffer whereas this time he was on my bike wheel throughout and there was no let up. It was a real shame his race ended in a crash so I’m pleased he’s ok.” “Seamus also pushed me hard in the 450cc race and our bikes were pretty evenly matched so that was another tough race although I was really chuffed to beat all the 125s on corrected time too. I’ve taken 22 wins now at the Mid Antrim and it’s certainly a circuit that’s been kind to me over the years, it’s just a shame that today’s been spoilt by the weather a bit. We’ve all got a mad dash now to get all the bikes, truck and the like all cleaned up before Armoy this weekend!” Ryan now has just a few days before his next outing with the Armoy Road Races taking place on Saturday August 7th. More, from a press release issued by Gino Rea’s publicist: Dream’s can come true- Gino Rea podiums in World Supersport at Silverstone! Gino Rea scored his maiden World Supersport podium position infront of a home crowd yesterday at Silverstone. Getting a trademark Speedy G start, Gino led into the first corner, soon to be passed by Eugene Laverty. Rea made a valiant effort to stay with him for the first half of the race, at times looking like he would stay right there until the end… Gino lapped half of a second faster than his qualifying time in a bid to score his first podium, after just missing out at Brno. At mid race distance, Gino’s tyre started to to wear causing him to drop slightly off the pace, loosing out to Ten Kate’s Kenan Sofoglu, Rea tried his best to stay close to the leaders doing while doing enough to score his first podium finish infront of a home crowd… Gino’s comments- ‘I’m so happy to be up here on the podium. To get my first podium in my debut year infront of a home crowd is one of my dreams come true. Before the season started, no one would have thought we would be battling for the top 10 positions, let alone getting a podium. We have come on strong in the last few races, finding a sweet spot in the chassis and improving electronics, yet we still have work to do. I felt good riding behind Eugene for half of the race, there were places where I could really close up on him but he had a bit more grip than me. As soon as my tyre started going off it exaggerated the grip problem and I couldn’t stay with him. We need to carry on improving the electronics and thinking about tyre management as we need to be stronger at the end of the race. It was amazing riding infront of a home crowd and I hope I gave them something exciting to watch, at least for the first half of the race. ‘I want to say thanks to all the people that have helped me get to where I am now, now, from the motocross days to the year of Supermoto, to Superbike Racing- Iain Hutton, Llyod Peacock, Mick Corrigan and Andrew Stone. But of course, the biggest thanks to my dad, mum and sister for soo much support of the years.’ The next World Supersport race will take place in four weeks time on the 5th September at Nurburgring. Grab yourself a Gino Rea T-shirt, available soon on www.GinoRea.com More, from a press release issued by Graves Motorsports: The Team Zyvax / Graves Yamahas Were On Fire at Summit Point’s WERA Endurance 6-Hour Race Kennesaw, Georgia Team Zyvax riders dominated the entire six hours of the Summit Point WERA Endurance race. The Team Zyvax R1 effort led the entire race and the second place Team Zyvax R6 effort defeated the rest of the field by ten laps! And the icing on the cake; all top five overall finishers were on Yamahas. A fast bike, a perfectly suited racetrack and a bit of luck helped team rider Chris Clark and guest rider Jason Disalvo astride their Team Zyvax / Graves Motorsports prepped Yamaha R1 outrun the competition. The riders put in consistent, flawless laps and their uncatchable R1 proved its dominance. “We led from start to finish and didn’t see any deer,” said Clark of the race and the track’s recent proclivity for wildlife visitors, “Not a bad day!” The track may have been better suited for the liter bikes but the Team Zyvax / Graves Motorsports supported R6, with team riders Dane Westby and Clinton Sellers in the irons, gave the R1 a run for its money. An unfortunate oil spill through the tighter sections of the track robbed the smaller bike of its opportunity to really shine where it performs best. Even without the speed advantage through the tighter areas, the Graves spec R6 came in only one lap down from the team’s R1. “The R6 team put in an unbelievable effort to stay so close to the R1 on that track!” exclaimed ecstatic team owner JB Layman. After tasting first at Grattan and finishing so close to the bigger bike at Summit Point, Westby and Sellers are hungrier than ever for another win. “We’ll be ready to pounce on the opportunity to win at VIR,” said a very determined Dane Westby. Next weekend at VIR the Team Zyvax riders and crew look to further their points lead and lay down some more fast laps. Team Zyvax would like to thank Perry Melnecuic of Project 1 Atlanta for stepping in as our axle man this weekend. Some highlight images of the racing can be found here: ~http://www.gravesport.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=855~ Team Zyvax is sponsored by Zyvax, Inc, Graves Motorsports and Dunlop. www.teamzyvax.com Graves Motorsports is a leading motorcycle sport bike parts and accessories manufacturer. Graves Motorsports produces exhaust systems, fender eliminator kits, frame sliders, velocity stacks, engine case covers, engine performance and the leading resource for Dynojet Power Commander + accessories. Graves Motorsports has two locations: Van Nuys, California and Kennesaw, Georgia. Visit the all new Graves Motorsports website www.gravesport.com More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Crutchlow Sweeps Silverstone World Superbike Races Yamaha Sterilgarda’s Cal Crutchlow delivered double wins at his home World Superbike race in Silverstone, England on Sunday, August 1. Crutchlow´s incredible performance means he leaves Silverstone having jumped from 10th to fifth in the rankings, and now has 188 points, just 16 points behind Carlos Checa in fourth. Teammate James Toseland made the most of his less than perfect grid position in both of the day’s two superbike races. Toseland remains in sixth place with 179 points as the series heads to the Nurburgring in Germany at the beginning of September, after Europe’s traditional summer break. A good start from pole position in race one saw the YZF-R1 mounted Crutchlow quickly into second behind Jonathan Rea. Crutchlow then played the waiting game, comfortably following just 0.1 seconds behind his rival until mid-race before taking the lead. He surrendered briefly to Rea but then quickly regained control and pulled away to build a 1.6-second lead as he crossed the line to claim his maiden win in this year’s championship. Race two was a virtual repeat of the first, with Crutchlow quickly settling in behind Rea, again maintaining a gap of just 0.1 to 0.2 seconds until just three laps from the end, when once again the Yamaha rider pulled into the lead, setting the fastest lap of the race on the way to his long-awaited double victory. “We’ve been trying so hard all year to achieve a win, and I’m ecstatic that it has happened at my home race,” a relieved Crutchlow said after the event. “It’s been a tough weekend with all the Brits trying hard but we knew we had the pace. It’s been a dream come true today three Brits on the podium for both races is brilliant. The British fans have been fantastic; they came out today and gave us tremendous support all around the circuit, so it was a brilliant day for me, a brilliant day for Yamaha, Sterilgarda and all our other sponsors. We now need to carry on and fight for the rest of the season.”