Keith Farmer is the 2018 British Superstock 1000 Champion after securing the title at Brands Hatch on Sunday. The Clogher rider crashed out the last race of the campaign in treacherous conditions at Brands Hatch, but with his closest rival also failing to finish Keith was crowned champion to claim his fourth British title.

Keith entered the last event at Brands Hatch knowing a fourth place finish would guarantee him the championship crown, and when challenger Billy McConnell crashed on lap six Keith knew the title was his.

“Thankfully for us we did what we needed to and came away with title number four,” he said. “We worked a lot on set up over the weekend and I was confident going into Sunday. I got a reasonable start but had a massive moment on turn one. I settled into position for a few laps and kept within distance of Billy, who had gone to the front pretty quickly. I could have sat there but I ended up racing it as a normal race because if I had maybe sat there I might have made a mistake sooner. Because I made a race of it and put pressure on him, thankfully he made a mistake before I did. Once I got the lead I pulled a bit of a gap and he obviously saw that and made a bit of a mistake.”

With McConnell going down while behind Farmer on the circuit, it was the next lap before Farmer knew of his rival’s demise, and he admitted that the news was a distraction. “I finished the lap and as soon as I saw the pit board with the big thumbs up on it it took my concentration away from the racetrack for a split second. I knew the championship was mine no matter what happened and with a lapse of concentration I ended up too hot on the brakes and I went down.”

The accident could not spoil the celebrations however, and the Clogher rider is now crossing his fingers that his performances will earn him a crack at the Superbike Championship next season. “The logical thing for me would be to go Tyco and go superbike but it is all up in the air still,” he admitted. “We haven’t discussed anything yet but I hope it can be sorted out within the next two weeks. I don’t want to be left in the dark. That has happened me too many years running. I have four British titles sitting on my mantelpiece now and there are not too many people that can say that. I just wish it was down to talent, but it’s down to money and politics now. The problem is that I don’t have a big personal sponsor behind me, I have only my own personal little sponsors. That is the hard part to take of racing. No matter how good you are sometimes it not just down to that. Hopefully one of the big teams that can see I am a guy #who does well and wins whatever bike I get on. That is what I’m hoping for. It’s just a case of fingers crossed and wait and see what happens.”

Ballinamallard’s Josh Elliott had started the season in the Superstock Championship alongside Farmer and ended up fifth in the final standings, but with the title out of reach with two events remaining he was handed the opportunity to impress in the Superbike class with his OMG Racing team giving him a seat on the Suzuki for the last two races. The triple header at Brands Hatch gave Josh three chances to stake a claim for a seat next season, and although he crashed out of the last race he managed two points scoring finishes including his best ever result of tenth in the second race.

“For my second time out on a superbike I thought the lap times were very good and I made good progress,” he said. “We improved every session and we were getting faster and faster. In qualifying I was so close to getting through to q2 by hundredths of a second and I was only half a second off the front guys. It was so close and the pace was really fast. To get into the points in race one was a big achievement and I was very happy about that. In race two to get p10, my best ever finish in

superbike class, was awesome. I fell off in the last one while I was tenth again. It was a big enough crash but I was lucky enough to land nicely and I didn’t do too much damage.”

The experience has only increased Josh’s desire to land a full time ride in British Superbikes next year, and he is confident he can compete at that level. “Superbike is where I need to be next year,” he said. “It is a massive step up, but with time I don’t think there is any reason that I can’t be battling up at the front. It was definitely a big learning curve. It requires a different style but it was a great experience. The OMG guys gave me a great opportunity so hopefully if all goes well I could be there next year and that would be good.”