British Superbike contender Keith Farmer says he will be fully prepared for the proposed start of the championship in August after months in lockdown.

The series was scheduled to commence in April but was postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Last week the organisers outlined plans for a condensed championship between August and October, featuring six 'triple-header' rounds.

Donington Park is set to host the first race from August 7 to August 9, and Farmer will step up his preparations this week with a test at Mallory Park ahead of his race debut for the Buildbase Suzuki team later this summer.

The Clogher man, who is now based in Cumbria, was ruled out for much of last season after breaking his legs in a crash at Knockhill in Scotland almost a year ago.

He hasn't raced competitively since, but the enforced break has given the four-time British champion extra breathing room to recover fully from his injuries.

"It's definitely been very strange times for everyone, but I've just been training away at home for most of the time and waiting to hear some news," explained Farmer.

"As much as I want the season to start, it has been a massive plus for me to have more time to build up extra strength in my legs and improve my mobility. I've tried to look at it positively from that point of view and I'm now in a much better place physically and in terms of my overall fitness.

"I haven't raced since I crashed on June 24 last year, so it's been almost a year now and I can't wait to get back to racing properly again.

"Donington Park is up first on the provisional calendar and it's a good circuit for me.

"I had good pace there last year and felt I had a really good flow, so hopefully we can start off with some good results."

Farmer, who won the National Superstock 1000 title for the Tyco BMW team in 2018, moved up to the BSB class last year.

However, he wasn't retained by the Northern Ireland team for 2020 and instead linked up with Stuart and Steve Hicken's Buildbase team to ride a Suzuki GSX-R1000.

"It's been great with Stuart and Steve so far because they are a really good bunch of lads who just want to go racing - they're not caught up in all the politics," said Farmer.

"They genuinely love the sport and it's been fantastic for me to be a part of that so far.

"From what I've learned about the Suzuki already, it's a strong little package and I like it a lot.

"We're due for a test at Mallory Park on Wednesday and although I'm a bit nervous to get the first race out of the way, I can't wait to get going."