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In-form Ryan Farquhar was on the mark once again
at the Skerries 100 when he won the open race,
leading from start to finish to beat Keith Amor.
Farquhar, whose last appearance at Skerries was
in 2005, has been in tremendous form this season
— doubles at the Cookstown 100 as well as the
Bush road races near Dungannon and last week he
followed up with another brace of wins at Athea.
Farquhar said: "This is just the result I needed
before I head off to the Southern 100 in the Isle
of Man tonight. This is another event which I
look forward to and hopefully I'll grab another
win." Scotsman Amor was delighted with his triumph
and said: "I held second place all the way throughout.
I knew I wasn't going to catch Ryan. Still I'm
riding in most of these road races for the first
time and after that I'll be at Kells in mid-July
before riding in the Ulster Grand Prix next month."
Third place today was taken by Kilkenny rider
John Walsh with Victor Gilmore fourth, Adrian
Archibald, a former winner, fifth, Gary Johnson
from Lincoln, who was riding in the race for the
first time, sixth and William Dunlop, who is hoping
to rekindle his spirit of earlier in the season,
finished seventh. Dunlop is also going to the
Southern 100, along with his brother Michael who
finished ninth today.
Farquhar scored a quick double when he won the
600cc class from William Dunlop with Gary Johnson
in third place. Farquhar led from the start from
Johnson and Dunlop and this was the position until
the third lap when Dunlop went into second place.
After that it was Farquhar all the way and he
set a record lap of 107.1mph. The Dunlop duo of
William and Michael dominated the 250cc race before
both headed off for the Southern 100 next week.
In third place was Ryan Farquhar and he was no
better than second throughout the race apart from
the second lap when he led from William Dunlop.
After that it was William Dunlop from Michael
and this pair had it all to themselves in a blazing
duel in the sun. There was a huge crowd of over
20,000 at the meeting which would have been better
but for the fact that overnight heavy rain appeared
to wreck the chances of the meeting going ahead.
However, once the roads dried it was racing of
the highest calibre with the Dunlops in particular
showing the way. William Dunlop said: "It's good
to get another win and it puts behind me the memory
of my father Robert's death at the North West
200. Hopefully there'll be more wins to come and
I'll be looking forward to the Ulster Grand Prix."
Michael said: "I thought I might have won that
today but William always appeared to have the
advantage in the closing stages and I settled
for second." In the 125cc Michael Dunlop had an
easy win but the placings were controversial.
Andrew Neill, who was in second spot on the
last lap, crashed within sight of the finish and
Graham Wilson, who was slightly ahead of Neill,
made second place with Sam Dunlop in third spot.
However, afterwards the clerk of the course stated
that Wilson had been involved in the accident
and under rule could not finish the race. This
was disputed on the spot and the stewards decided
to meet and announce their decision later in the
day.
By Jimmy Walker
Section 1: TT Main Page
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