Ryan Farquhar has completed his KMR Kawasaki team line-up for the 2012 road racing season having signed Michael Rutter and Kirk Jamison to ride for him at the Isle of Man TT Races and North West 200 respectively.
Rutter will join Farquhar on the orange and black ER6 Kawasaki Supertwin for the re-introduced Lightweight TT, the only Supertwin race that the Midlands rider will campaign the bike in 2012. Signing the British Superbike rider is a terrific coup for the team and strengthens not only KMR Kawasaki’s chances of winning the 4-lap race but also the entry list where Michael and Ryan will go head to head with, amongst others, fellow TT winners Michael Dunlop, Cameron Donald, Adrian Archibald and Ian Lougher. Newcomer Jamie Hamilton completes the line-up for the squad on the Island.
Jamison, meanwhile, will join the team for the North West 200 meeting where the Supertwin class will also make its debut. It will be only the second appearance at the Triangle for the Greyabbey rider, his debut in 2011 coming in not the best of circumstances with only one race held, and he will make it a four-pronged attack for Farquhar’s team with Ryan, former GP winner Jeremy McWilliams and Hamilton also challenging for honours.
Speaking about the line-up, a delighted Ryan commented; “It’s great to have two more riders added to the team and it gives us a great chance of honours at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT. Having someone of the stature of Michael in the team is a terrific honour as he’s one of the finest road racers of his generation and it will give the team a great chance of succeeding in the re-introduced Lighweight TT. To be able to have riders like Michael and Jeremy on board the bikes shows just how far the team's come. Kirk is one of Northern Ireland’s best short circuit racers at present and although the North West 200 is a different ball game, I’m confident he’ll give a good account of himself.”
“Having 4 bikes on the grid at the North West and 3 at the TT is a big undertaking so I’m hoping I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew! I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think we could succeed though and all the lads in the team are mechanically minded and able to help out so I’m sure we’ll be fine. I’ve been working on the bikes since the end of last year and they’re better than what we finished 2011, having found some more speed so it’s looking really good.”
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