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KEITH Amor will remain with Wilson Craig Racing in 2009 and has set himself a target of breaking Ryan Farquhar's stranglehold on the Irish national championships. The 36-year-old Falkirk rider was a constant thorn in Farquhar’s side this year, finishing as runner-up in both the Supersport and Senior title battles.

With his first full season on the roads under his belt, Amor feels he will be better equipped to challenge the Dungannon ace next year.

“It looks as though I’ll be doing the Irish roads again next season,” said Amor. I had thought about going to the British championships but there didn’t seem to be a lot of incentive for me to do that in 2009 and because my main goal next year is the international road races, I’d be just as well doing the Irish nationals again. I’ll sit down and talk it over with Wilson and there could be a few possibilities with regards the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT,” Amor added.

“There might be a chance of having better spec machinery for the internationals, different to what I’d be riding at the nationals, but it all boils down to money so we’ll see what happens.”

Amor feels the Honda Fireblade will be the Superbike to have in 2009 and is confident he can give Farquhar a real run for his money.

“The Honda Superbike has had a year’s worth of development behind it and I think it will be extremely competitive next season,” he said. “The 600 is really strong anyway and it will be better again too, so I’m more than happy to stick with the Hondas. This was my first full year on the roads and I’d never raced at most of the circuits before, so next season I’ll know my way around much better and hopefully I’ll be able to take the fight to Ryan. Myself and Ryan had some really good battles this year and there was very little between us at times. The good thing about Ryan is that he is a rider you can trust not to do anything silly when you’re riding hard and that makes life easier,” added Amor. “I had a smashing time racing at the nationals and the support from the fans was superb, so next year it’s all to play for.”

Amor revealed that he will race a Yamaha for the AIM Team in the Supersport class at the Macau Grand Prix next week.

“It’s a one-off ride. It’s the 600 that Steve Plater was using, so it’s a competitive bike and I’m looking forward to the race.”