Barry Furber

Name: Barry Furber

Date of Birth: October 8^th, 1984

Place of Birth: Bishops Castle, Shropshire, England

Nationality: British

Getting into biking:

“I started racing in 2011 after years of riding Trials and British Enduro Championship.”

Barry first competed at the Isle of Man in the 2014 Manx Grand Prix, when he finished second in the Newcomers B race before unfortunately retiring in the Super Twin race.

Racing Icon:

“Michael Rutter, I like the way he works and he’s still getting better after all the years he’s been riding.”

Career Highlights (pre-2018):

“Competing in the Senior TT with a respectable 26^th.”

Barry competed in the Manx GP in 2014 and 2015. As previously mentioned, a 2^nd place finish in the Newcomers B race is Furber’s highest finish on the Isle of Man Mountain Course. 2015 saw Barry compete in the MGP Super Twin race whereby he recorded a fourth place finish. Those two years at the Manx Grand Prix more than proved his potential and moving quickly up to the TT has already paid dividends.

2016 was the first time Barry competed in the TT, with his highest finish again coming in the Lightweight race where he placed 13^th but he also placed 30^th and 38^th in  the two Supersport races and won three bronze replicas to complete a more than solid TT debut.

Having made such a strong impression at the TT, Barry returned in 2017 forsaking the Supersport races in favour of running a 1000cc ZX-10 Kawasaki R in the Superbike, Superstock and Senior races.

It proved to be a good choice as he won three more bronze replicas and increased his lap speeds considerably as he broke the 120mph barrier for the first time. The Senior race gave him his best result on the 1000cc capacity machine where he finished 26^th and lapped at 123.483mph whilst he also finished 32^nd and 34^th in the Superstock and Superbike races. His best finish again came in the Lightweight TT race where he improved to 11^th, his best TT finish to date.

The 2017 North West 200 was also successful for Barry with his highest finish coming in the John M Paterson Supertwin race, where he placed 8^th in a race won by his racing icon, Michael Rutter. He also took a creditable 15^th in the Vauxhall Supertwin race to make it a more than solid debut at the event.

2018 season:

Furber featured at the TT for the third consecutive year in 2018, where he again shone in the Lightweight TT, this time finishing in 12^th place on Suzuki, increasing his personal best lap speed in the class to 114.595mph. Competing on a 2014 Kawasaki ZX10R in the Superbike, Superstock and Senior races Barry had a very consistent year. The Superbike race saw him finish 28^th, following this up with 31^st in the Superstock and 30^th in the Senior race with the latter seeing him finish his 11^th TT race in 11 starts, winning ten bronze replicas in the process.

Other highlights for Furber in 2018 were making his debut at the Southern 100 where he came runner-up in the Corlett’s Trophies 600/1000 B race, just under 0.13 seconds behind winner Paul Gartland and finished eighth and ninth in the two Lightweight races. He also finished 16^th in the feature Championship race where he lapped at 105.036mph which was an impressive speed indeed for a circuit newcomer.

Barry also enjoyed a solid first time appearance at the Ulster Grand Prix with 12^th in the Lightweight race and a lap of 123.207mph in the Superstock race the highlights. Barry also won two Super Twin races at the first Wirral 100 Anglesey meeting of the season.

2019 season

Furber began 2019 by competing at the Wirral 100 in Anglesey, where he piloted his teams Kawasaki and Honda bikes and impressed on the road. Barry finished in the top 12 on three occasions and didn’t finish any lower than 15^th in any races at the meeting.

Opting out of the North West 200, Barry then headed to the Isle of Man with his best finish coming once more in the Lightweight TT race, where he placed 21^st for yet another bronze replica. In the Senior TT Barry achieved 34^th and the Superstock race saw him cross the line in 47^th place although he was out of luck in the two Supersport and Superbike races, retiring in all three.

Barry returned to the island for the Southern 100 where he finished 20^th in the Senior race and also took a brace of 26^th’s in the Supersport races.

At the Ulster Grand Prix, Furber’s best finish came in the feature Superbike race when he took a fine 14^th place, backing this up with 18^th and 26^th in the other two Superbike races. He was forced to retire from the Supersport races but took his fourth finish of the meeting with 20^th place in the Superstock encounter.

20^th Superstock

Career Achievements – at a glance:

• 2014 – 2^nd Newcomers B Manx Grand Prix
• 2015 – 4^th Supertwin Manx Grand Prix
• 2016 – Isle of Man TT debut, 13^th Lightweight race with bronze replicas also taken in the two Supersport races
• 2017 – 11^th Lightweight TT, 26^th Senior TT, 32^nd Superstock TT and 34^th Superbike TT – four more bronze replicas and a new personal best lap of 123.483mph
• 2017 – North West 200 debut, 8^th Supertwin race
• 2018 – 12^th Lightweight TT, 28^th Superbike TT, 30^th Senior TT and 31^st Superstock TT – three bronze replicas
• 2018 – Southern 100 debut, 8^th and 9^th in the two Lightweight races and 16^th in the feature Championship race, best lap of 105.036mph
• 2018 – Ulster Grand Prix debut, 12^th Lightweight race with a lap of 123.207mph in the Superstock race

Find out more about your other favourite road racers HERE!