Keith Farmer battled back from a dismal start to take victory in this morning’s Pirelli National Superstock 1000 race at Oulton Park as he held off Joe Collier and Chrissy Rouse for his first win of the year.

Carrying an injured hand from a crash at the official Oulton test just over a week ago, the Tyco BMW rider has now moved into second in the championship standings as he cuts Billy McConnell’s lead down to just 11 points.

It wasn’t quite smooth sailing for the Northern Irishman, however, as he dropped like a stone off the start line with a terrible launch, making way for the EHA Racing Aprilia of Andy Reid to grab the holeshot.

But Reid’s lead was short lived when Quinnstheprinters.com BMW’s Rouse levered him aside at Island Bend to hit the front, stretching a gap of over a second on lap two ahead of the chasing RSV4s of Collier and Reid.

As Collier began to cut the Geordie’s advantage, Farmer caught back up to the top three to throw his hat into the ring for a shot at the podium.

Rouse’s lead had all but diminished by lap six and Reid took over at the front moments later, but the tattoo artist suffered a technical problem on lap eight and was out of the race after pulling off at the exit of Shell Oils.

The three leaders were at each other’s throats in the closing minutes, but ultimately last year’s British Supersport champ and former Stock 1000 title-holder Farmer held off an attempt by Collier at the final corner to secure his first win of 2018.

Rouse bagged his second podium of the season in third after dropping out of the fight for victory when he ran a touch wide into Druids on the final lap.

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