MCE British Superbike series director Stuart Higgs has reacted angrily to the social media backlash following Keith Farmer’s 60-second penalty for the crash which put Ben Currie out of Supersport podium contention at Assen this afternoon.

Farmer was found to be at fault in the incident and his penalty - which was not appealed by the Appleyard team - meant he scored no points and wasn’t, in the end, crowned champion for 2017. But the backlash on social media, saying it was a ‘racing incident’, has incensed Higgs as Farmer was already ‘on notice’ after a Silverstone infringement.

“If there’s one thing that pisses me off it’s the regurgitated phrase ‘racing incident’, a ridiculous industry cop out wheeled out time and time again. Lines have to be drawn to regulate incidents or people get hurt or worse,” said Higgs.

“Keith was on a very specific notice after Silverstone and again he found himself majority responsible for causing a collision, this time resulting in a crash and DNF for the other party. He and the team had the right of appeal.

“Supersport class racing in particular is close proximity racing. Contact is a part of it sometimes. But contact causing a crash is then about apportioning responsibility and getting a balanced outcome. You simply can’t be majority responsible for causing a collision and a crash and get a result out of it.”