Retro Rewind: Three big reasons why 2004 was such a special year for Ryan Farquhar

The Dungannon man, who still runs his successful KMR Kawasaki team, went into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2019 for the achievement of ‘winning more road races than any other rider’, amassing 357 victories in all.

He was critically injured in a crash at the North West 200 in 2016 and hasn’t returned to competitive road racing since, although he remains heavily involved in the sport, building his own highly-successful 650cc Kawasaki machines for the Supertwin class.

There have been countless standout moments throughout Farquhar’s glittering career, but 2004 is a year that holds special memories for the Co Tyrone man.

During a previous interview conducted at his home, Farquhar told me there were three particular reasons why it had been such an important period in his life and career.

In a whirlwind 12 months, he married his fiancée, Karen McFetridge, achieved his maiden Isle of Man TT victory and celebrated the birth of his first child, Keeley.

He was still competing under the McAdoo Racing banner in 2004 and after breaking his wrist while riding a quad prior to the beginning of the season, the outlook for Farquhar that year was bleak. Instead, it turned out to be one of the most significant years of his life.

“Kenny Harker bought me a ZX-10 Superstock bike in 2004 and I had a 600cc Kawasaki of my own for the Sunday races and I was riding a 250 as well,” Farquhar said.

“Things were looking really well until I broke my wrist in a quad accident. I missed Cookstown and Tandragee and I went to the North West and TT but I was struggling with the injury big time.

“At the TT everything was going really badly until the 600cc Production race on the Friday, when I won it,” Farquhar said.

“From there on I knew something was still badly wrong with my wrist because I was in agony. Every time I said my wrist was sore, Martin Finnegan and Richard Britton were laughing at me.

“They were saying I was just making excuses, so I went to see Mr McGinn, the orthopaedic surgeon, and he told me my scaphoid bone hadn’t healed and wouldn’t heal because I’d had the injury for too long.

“The only option was to get a bone graft and that’s when I went ahead and had the surgery.”

Farquhar also made the decision in 2004 to take up racing on a full-time, professional basis.

“It was a special year in 2004 because I got my first TT win, I got married and Keeley was born, plus I had the operation on my wrist,” he recalled.

“It’s special winning at the North West 200, don’t get me wrong, but standing on the top step of the podium at the TT and giving Winston McAdoo his first and only TT win that day and Kawasaki’s first win in 21 years was something totally different. Nothing can match that.”

Farquhar came home ahead of Bruce Anstey and John McGuinness to claim his first victory on the Mountain Course.

He continued: “That was the first year that I went racing full-time because prior to 2004 the racing was getting in the way of my work and I decided to give work a miss and concentrate on my racing.

“I got off to a bad start with the wrist injury and even to this day my wrist isn’t right – I’ve just had to adapt to it.”

The following season, he parted company from McAdoo racing and linked up with Nick Morgan’s MSS Kawasaki team as the victories continued to flow.

Farquhar completed a clean sweep of the ‘big three’ road races in the Supersport class at the North West, TT and Ulster Grand Prix – one of his proudest achievements.

“I did a deal with Nick Morgan in 2005 and got a really trick Superbike for the North West, TT and Ulster GP and as many of the national road races as I wanted,” he said.

“I thought it was a really good opportunity and Kenny Harker supplied me with a Superstock bike again. The Supersport bike that year was fantastic and I won pretty much everywhere on it, but the Superbike let us down a lot.

“It was a good year but it could have been a lot better,” Farquhar added.

“The Superbike blew up at the Ulster Grand Prix and Mark Johns stepped in with a Fireblade. I was leading the Superbike race that year until the rain came on and I eased off.

“I won at the North West, TT and Ulster Grand Prix that year on the Supersport bike to complete the full sweep. I think I had my first five-timer that season as well and it was a really good year for me. I think in all I won 33 races.”

Farquhar had also been on course to lift the Duke Road Race Rankings Series Trophy but lost out to old adversary Ian Lougher when the inaugural Ballybunion road race was cancelled following the death of Richard Britton.

“I lost out on the Duke Rankings Trophy that year because I went to Ballybunion and that was where Richard Britton was killed,” he said.

“I didn’t get any points because the race was cancelled and Ian Lougher won the trophy because he went to Scarborough and got the points he needed.

“I’d been trying to win it for three years on the trot, so I had to start from scratch again basically.”

Farquhar later made amends, winning the prestigious accolade on five successive occasions from 2008-2012.