Ryan Vickers led a twice-restarted Pirelli National Superstock 600 race which left at least five riders worse for wear as the Mototechniks Yamaha rider bagged his seventh win of 2018.

The runaway championship leader has put one hand on the title with his seventh win from six starts, while nearest rival Joe Sheldon-Shaw lost further hopes of catching him in the points chase.

Vickers was straight out in front with his trademark lightning start, leading Aaron Clarke, Milo Ward, Ben Luxton and Sheldon-Shaw away from the line.

But the series front-man pulled the pin on just his second lap as he clocked a new record of 1’30.960, dropping the mark to 1’30.896 on the next lap.

As Vickers stretched his lead to over three seconds with just four laps completed, the race was brought to a halt as red flags were thrown after Sam Holme bailed from his Everquip Yamaha on the start-finish straight.

On the six-lap quick restart, Vickers shot off the line once again, leading Clarke and Sheldon-Shaw into Charlie’s and pulling out a 1.5s gap after just two laps while Aaron Clifford and Josh Wood crashed out of the race behind.

But the race was red-flagged once again after Via Moto’s Sheldon-Shaw suffered a technical problem, causing a tangle between Mark Clayton and Kevin Keyes heading into Barn which stopped on-track action for the second time.

When the race finally got back underway for a final five-lap leg, it was to no one’s surprise that Vickers grabbed another holeshot and stretched a one-second gap after just one lap, cruising from there to his seventh win of the season as the chequered flag finally fell.

But the battle for the podium raged behind and it was Draper Racing’s Clarke who held off G&S Racing rider Ward to snatch second.

Click here for times