SuperBike Magazine July 2020

2003 - Ryan Farquhar sweeps through Church Bends on his way to the Solo Championship
first Southern ‘100’ of the millennium, sponsored
as a whole by the Isle of Man Steam
Packet Company.
2001: No Southern ‘100’
November 2000 and the Southern 100 committee
were well ahead with planning the
2001 Southern ‘100’ Road Races, scheduled
for 16th, 17th, 18th & 19th July 2001. Then early
in the New Year came the news of the foot
and mouth epidemic in the UK. The TT races
were the first meeting to be cancelled, only
the third time in their illustrious history that
they would not run. After much consultation
with competitors, government officials and
the like, the Southern ‘100’ committee made
the decision to postpone the July event until
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 14th,
15th & 16th, after emergency legislation had
been passed in Tynwald. New Regulations and
Entry Forms were sent out and other preparations
put in place.
Then in July, ironically during the week
that the ‘Southern’ should have been run the
decision was made to call off the 2001 meeting.
Club officials met Department of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry, prior to the
monthly Committee meeting and the decision
was made to cancel the Southern ‘100’ Road
races for 2001. Club Chairman, at the time,
Derek Nicholson said; ‘It is regretted that
we, as a club, have had to call off this year’s
events, especially so with all the efforts put
in by the committee to safeguard racing on
the Billown Circuit ‘But having due regard for
all the cooperation the club receives annually
from the farmers, land owners, as well as
the government agencies and in the best
interests of the Manx community as a whole,
to lose one year for their continued long term
support is a small price to pay.’
2002: Back in Business & It’s Lougher
again!
From the outset of this year’s Southern ‘100’,
only one rider looked like getting his hands
on the main solo championship trophy. Such
was his dominance of the big bike classes on
the Temple Auto Salvage 1000cc Suzuki, Ian
Lougher was always the red-hot favourite. He
duly won the 11th and final race on the calendar
at a canter from Ryan Farquhar, with Jason
Griffiths completing a carbon copy 1-2-3
of the other two superbike races. Surprisingly,
it was the joyous Welshman’s first ever-Solo
Championship race.
Ryan Farquhar came to within seventh
tenths of a second of the first ever 110mph
lap of the Southern ‘100’ circuit, when he
scorched to victory in the Ronaldsway Shoe
Co Solo Championship race. The race was
initially halted at the end of the first lap
following an incident at the Iron Gates corner
in which star newcomer Guy Martin broke an
ankle. He had made a strong start and was
attempting to go underneath early leader
Farquhar at the tight right hander when he
ran out of road, sat upright and went straight
into the straw bales lining the solid stone
walls on the left. Martin’s 750cc Suzuki
bounced back across the track, but mercifully
hit none of the following riders. Nevertheless,
with the rider requiring immediate attention
and wreckage from the bike and bales strewn
right across the road the decision was made
to red flag the race.
At the restart, 25 minutes or so later,
Farquhar again forged his way to the front on
Winston McAdoo’s GSXR. The only rider ever in
any real contention was Ramsey’s Jason Griffiths
on the Yamaha Motor UK R1 entered by
Road & Track Motorcycles. He admitted being
very lucky not to have been caught up in the
initial incident at the Iron Gate and had purposely
taken a tight line on the right hand
side to avoid the machine which he knew
was likely to bounce across the road in
front of him. But to say he settled for second
place would be a misleading statement
for he indeed began to make inroads
into the Ulsterman’s lead as the race
drew to a close – in much the same way
as he had the previous evening. Farquhar
knew that Griffiths was on a late charge
and he ran wide at Cross Four Ways on
the final lap as he came under increasing
pressure, but the young Dungannon ace
held on to record what he admitted was
his best ever victory. He smashed the
absolute course record on lap eight with
a time of 2 minutes 20 seconds precisely
(109.285mph), 0.9 of a second inside the
standard set by Ian Lougher last year but
equalled by Jason Griffiths in Wednesday’s
Total Oils Senior race. Griffiths also went
inside the old record with a time of 2.20.3
on that final lap and admitted to being
pleased with second place on the day.
Newcomer Martin Finnegan finished a
fine third, having started the week on his
backside following a fall during practice.
Maughold’s Gary Carswell rode a solid
race on his near standard GSXR 1000 to
finish a good fourth after a close initial
dice with Victor Gilmore, Ian Lougher and
Chris Palmer. Lougher had opted to ride
the Manton Honda he rode to victory in the
600 race instead of Mark Johns’ big 1000
Suzi, which had simply refused to behave
itself over the bumps and jumps of the
‘Southern’ course. Mark Parrett made up
for the disappointment of a non-finish in
the Senior race by getting the Wilson &
Collins Kawasaki home in sixth place.
Newtownards man Bertie Payne, a
long time 250cc sponsor of the late great
Joey Dunlop has donated a new trophy to
be presented annually at the Southern
‘100’.The Joey Dunlop Trophy, together with
a cheque will be awarded to the fastest
competitor at the Southern. Bitmac
contractor Bertie explained: “The Billown
Circuit was one of Joey’s favourites and
one where he achieved some of his most
memorable successes, breaking lap records
on many occasions. The trophy is a
fitting tribute to the man himself and to a
great meeting – one he was always proud
to be associated with.”
2003 - Bertie Payne presents Ryan
Farquhar with the Joey Dunlop Trophy