Keith Farmer managed two top ten finishes at the latest British Superbike round at Oulton Park to kick start his season.

After taking just five championship points at the opening round in Silverstone, the Clogher rider crossed the line in seventh and eighth in the two races held on Bank Holiday Monday to move into the top ten in the championship.

Josh Elliott was hoping to build on his race winning opening weekend, but he had a frustrating outing with finishes of tenth and 15th seeing him slip from first to fourth in the championship table.

“I’m over the moon to be in top ten in the championship now and top BMW. Really happy,” said Farmer.

“I wanted two top tens, but to have two strong top tens was very pleasing and we can’t complain.”

After a disrupted pre-season that limited the amount of time the TYCO BMW team spent testing the bikes, they are starting to make significant progress, and Farmer is hopeful they will continue to move through the field. “Every time we get on the bike we are making steps forward and the bike is still under developed compared to everyone else’s so its exciting to think about what is still to come,” he said. “At Oulton Park I was learning how to ride the Superbike that bit better than previously. It was a little bit to do with the set up of the bike, and a little bit about just getting more time on the bike. The first weekend wasn’t too bad especially in race two. Even though we made a couple of mistakes and fell back to last position two or three times, we came right through the field to 12th so we had good race pace. It’s just about time on the bike more than anything and we are getting there. Hopefully for round three we will have a few new upgrades with the bikes so it is looking positive.”

Josh Elliott took a step in the other direction however, as he failed to build on his opening weekend victory.

A change in set up failed to have the desired effect, and he suffered a weekend of frustration.

“Even in qualifying the bike was only good for three or four laps and then it dropped off a cliff. In the race that really showed and I struggled to maintain pace with the front guys and I got dropped,” explained Elliott.

“We just got away from the setting we have developed over the winter, and got a bit lost and never recovered. We went into race one without a lot of laps, because of the weather and a few red flags. We probably needed as many laps as possible and we struggled going into the races. We were almost guessing at the settings, and I was getting a lot of front and rear chatter, which was causing me to run across the track and on really fast corners it was making me lose my line and almost put me off track,. I was having to really try and manage that. For race two we made another change and it just didn’t work.”

With Donnington next on the calendar later this month, the Ballinamallard rider is confident he can move back towards the top of the leader board.

“I’m looking forward to it and I think we will be back stronger. We know where we went wrong and Donnington is a track I have always liked. It is fast and flowing and it suits my style so hopefully we will have a better round there and keep ourselves in a good position in the championship.”

Meanwhile, Lee Johnston continued his British Supersport Championship challenge with a fifth place onboard the Ashcourt Racing Yamaha R6, with the result maintaining his fifth place in the championship standings. Lee’s focus will now switch from the track to the roads, as he gears up for next week’s North West 200 Road Races. Practice for the North coast event takes place on Tuesday and Thursday morning, with Lee featuring in races on Thursday afternoon and Saturday.