Farquhar's focus on boost for BMW

His hat-trick at the venue in 2015 secured Farquhar the ‘man-of-the-meeting’ honour towards an overall tally of national road race triumphs beyond the double-century landmark.

This weekend’s meeting should pose few surprises for the 40-year-old race ace but Tandragee proved top of the talking points during a visit to the area last week in aid of charity.

Farquhar was a special guest at Loughgall Football Club’s Lakeview Park last Friday night to step up to the oche for a change of pace and face highly-decorated darts professional James Wade.

With the Tandragee 100 relatively close in terms of days and distance, Farquhar was happy to discuss his love of both sports.

Wade was in Northern Ireland due to his Belfast-based Premier League fixture and a commitment to put on a special showcase at Lakeview.

Farquhar proved in relaxed mood for the switch in pace and change from his focus on keeping his bike between the hedges to aiming his arrows between the wire.

“I’m not a darts thrower but I enjoy it and watch it on television,” said Farquhar. “The chance to come along to Loughgall and play a superstar like James Wade was too good to turn down and it was all a bit of fun.

“Obviously bikes are my thing and over the years I have been lucky to get quite a few wins at Tandragee, including three last year.

“I am working on changes to my new BMW bike since Mid-Antrim and hoping for good weather and to have the right setting for this different challenge.

“A sunny day makes so much difference to it all for everyone, spectators and riders.

“You never want to be trailing a bike through the gutters and fans want a nice bit of weather to enjoy the racing.

“You want a safe day’s racing, of course, for everyone and Tandragee remains one of my favourite races.

“I am looking forward to getting the bike set up for a lap-record pace.”

Farquhar was keen to highlight the sense of community connected to both events - and the importance of that ground-level support.