It was a mixed two weeks for the Forcefield supported riders at the famous Isle of Man TT, the Island was blessed with awesome weather for the entire practice week and the Forcefield riders enjoyed several successful practice sessions in preparation for the busy week of racing scheduled.
The Forcefield rider of the week has to be Irishman Ryan Farquhar, he had a fantastic race week and took a third in the Superstock 1000 race, second in the second Supersport race and after a long delay took the overall win in the new Lightweight class. Ryan was on form throughout the entire TT Race Festival and was eager to gain some good results over the race week. His team-mate Jamie Hamilton also wearing Forcefield picked up the best Newcomers award and also a stunning 10th place in the Lightweight race.
Ryan commented "It's been a hard but worthwhile TT week for me and over the moon I won the Lightweight race at the end of the week and end my 2012 TT on a high note. The race was postponed on Friday and we didn't get out until 6.30pm on the Saturday, the conditions were damp and I just tried to make sure that I was steady where I needed to be.
It was also very pleasing to see Jamie finish his TT week so well, as a few silly problems at the start of the week in the other races preventing him getting a finish, so to come 10th and win the Newcomers Trophy is a brilliant end to his week. I have to say a big thank you to all my sponsors for supporting us this year it's very much appreciated and especially Kawasaki for being 100% behind me. On the Forcefield front I have used various types of body armour during my time racing but Forcefield is hard to beat for protection and comfort and like to thank them for once again supporting me."
Jamie Hamilton - "It's been a great experience to race at the TT and to win the Newcomers award was mega, the Forcefield kit felt awesome all week and I'd like to thank them for their support this year and hope I can improve on results at the Island next year."
After suffering a crash at the North West Gary Johnson did not have the TT week he was hoping for, with a mixed bag of results and his best being in the Superbike race, where he finished seventh. The main race of the week the Senior TT, which was scheduled for Friday was postponed until Saturday and was later cancelled due to poor weather conditions and on the grounds of safety. Only Foot and Mouth and the Wars has stopped racing TT week so it was a real disappointment for all the organisers and people involved to have to cancel it.
The major downside of the week was with Honda Legends rider Simon Andrews who crashed heavily during the first Superbike race last Saturday and Graham's Memorial on the Mountain. Simon was travelling at 143mph when he crashed and sustained a number of injuries including a broken ankle and wrist, broken and dislocated shoulder, dislocated thumb and ruptured his eyes in the process.
Simon - "I was gutted to have crashed especially in the first race of the TT week as I'd been running well through all of practice week. I don't remember much about the crash or what happened I'm just lucky and fortunate to still be here as big crashes on the road circuits are not very forgiving. I'd like to thank Forcefield for the back and chest protector as I didn't have a mark on my back or chest so I'm really pleased that it did the job I needed it to, hugely grateful and also to Shoei and PSI Leathers for their protection, I'm very fortunate."
