Ryan hopes to be flying

The 34-year-old is working flat out on the British Superbike-spec machine in readiness for the opening practice session on the north coast.

Farquhar though concedes his lack of preparation time could present a major obstacle to overcome when he takes to the grid in Portstewart on Nick Morgan’s machine.

“From what I’ve seen so far I’m very impressed and they’ve given me a nice piece of kit,” said the Killyman rider, who has made a flying start to the 2010 season after notching eight wins from eight starts at Scarborough and five victories at the Cookstown 100 last month.

“Only time will tell if I’m going to be able to ride it how I want and if it’s going to be quick enough.

“If it’s much better than my Superstock bike then I don’t think I’ll be far away.

“It’s not ideal preparation for the North West 200 but I’ve been so busy there’s not a lot I can do about it.

“If I had taken the Superbike earlier in the season I might have neglected other things and the way the season’s started I think I made the right choice by getting my other bikes sorted out.”

The Killyman ace, who became the most successful national road racer in 2009 when he eclipsed Joey Dunlop’s record of 119 successes, expects the first North West 200 practice session on Tuesday to be especially challenging.

“Tuesday night’s practice at the North West is going to be a big struggle for us,” he surmised.

“It could go either way, the settings could be spot on or we could be a mile out - I won’t know until I get to the circuit.

“The bike is a fair bit lighter than my Superstocker and has more power, so it’s interesting.

“It puts me under a bit more pressure trying to get it ready for race day but with my experience and the experience of the team we should be able to get it sorted.

“I’ll be on the back foot purely because I’ve had hardly any time on the bike.”

Farquhar is making minor changes to the machine to suit his own personal preferences but the key set-up work will be carried out by the MSS Colchester Kawasaki team, which arrives in force this week for the prestigious international road race.

“A lot of the parts on the bike are quick-release parts so I’ve got to make sure everything is well bolted on for road racing,” he said.

“I’m using different brake pads and I’m making a few other wee changes to suit myself.

“The full MSS team will be over and they’ll be looking after my Superbike at the North West and the TT so all I’ll really have to do is work on my Superstock and Supersport bikes, which is handy enough.

“It might take a bit of time to get the Superbike dialled in but hopefully that won’t be the case. I’ll do my best and that’s all I can do.”

The Ulster rider will be joined in the Superbike class at the North West by Crumlin’s Stephen Thompson and British Superbike rider Gary Mason.