BSB: Farmer holds Stock 1000 lead, McConnell wins as Ward and Neave impress again

The National Superstock 1000 championship took another dramatic turn on Saturday and Sunday, as Joe Collier took both race one and race two victories, whilst race three went to Australia’s Billy McConnell, who crashed out of race one, meaning he missed race two.

McConnell wasn’t the only front-running rider to suffer crashes on Saturday, as Herefordshire’s Luke Jones was having a tremendous ride in 3rd from 9th on the grid, before crashing the Morello Kawasaki at Hawthorn’s – he was unscathed, apart from a tender gentleman’s region, whilst the bike was certainly a tad second-hand. Taylor Mackenzie crashed his Bathams BMW on the last lap of race one to join the list of high-profile casualties.

Race one went the way of Joe Collier, who held off Keith Farmer and Tom Neave who completed the podium. Lee Jackson and Alex Olsen were in just behind, whilst Josh Elliott had a great run in 6th, placing the OMG Suzuki firmly inside the top ten. Matt Truelove, Sam Coventry, Dean Hipwell and former MotoGP rider Bryan Staring completed the top ten.

In race two, more crashes followed, as Keith Farmer came off his Tyco BMW and on the final corner of the last lap, Tom Neave launched his Suzuki into the catch fencing. The race was won again by Joe Collier with Josh Elliott giving OMG Racing Suzuki their first podium since coming to the BSB paddock in 2nd, with a superb ride from Alex Olsen in 3rd place completing the podium. Matt Truelove has his best ride of the year in 4th, with Lee Jackson completing the top five for FS-3 Kawasaki.

On to Sunday and race three, there was an atmosphere from a lot of riders which suggested they were going to push on and try and win the race in the opening lap. Joe Collier did just that, as he highsided his EHA Racing Aprilia out of action. Most people avoided the flying machine but Carl Philips, who was slowing to avoid the accident, was smashed into from behind by Jack Drury, which subsequently caused a chain reaction incident and a resulting red flag situation.

On the restart of the race, the usual suspects of Billy McConnell, Keith Farmer and Alex Olsen were at the front, whilst Josh Elliott also closed them down. Lee Jackson and Leon Jeacock were also in the mix but it was truly staggering ride from Canterbury’s Tom Ward from 13th on the grid, placing the Halsall Racing Suzuki in 7th place, as Colin Wright continues to develop his relationship with the young Kent rider.

There were crashes galore again, as Luke Jones managed just a further two laps on the Morello Kawasaki before crashing again at Paddock Hill bend, topping off a disastrous meeting for the reigning National Superstock 1000 champions. Taylor Mackenzie crashed out of race three too, whereas Tom Neave didn’t even finish the first lap, crashing from the lead at Westfield.

McConnell won from Farmer, with the reigning British Supersport champ holding onto his series lead from Joe Collier and Billy McConnell. Olsen was 3rd ahead of Elliott, Jackson, Jeacock and Tom Ward. Sam Coventry sent a signal out that he had earned his place back on the grid with nothing but top tens in all of his races, whilst completing the top ten was George Stanley and Bryan Staring.