Newly crowned Metzeler National Superstock 1000 champion Keith Farmer has his hopes pinned on a move to the MCE British Superbike series in 2013.

The 25-year-old from Clogher is one of the hottest talents around after clinching his second title in two years.

Farmer served notice of his credentials as a rising talent when he captured the 600cc Superstock crown in his first full season on the English circuits in 2010.

His potential was recognised by top team owner Paul Bird and the Cumbrian entrepreneur rewarded the talented Ulsterman with a ride in his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki outfit on the ZX-10R this year.

And how Farmer has repaid him, putting the championship to bed with one round to spare at Silverstone to set up a stress-free finale at Brands Hatch this weekend.

The natural progression now for ex-Irish Supermoto champion Farmer is to step up to BSB and the Northern Ireland rider hopes to weigh up his options soon after leaving his immediate future in Bird’s hands.

Next season, Bird will focus his efforts solely on the CRT class in MotoGP, with Shane Byrne - who heads into this weekend’s BSB triple header as the title favourite - set to spearhead the team.

However, Bird has promised to look after Farmer’s interests as he attempts to secure the two-times British champion a BSB ride in 2013.

“I’ve nothing in place for 2013 as yet and I’ve left everything with Paul,” Farmer told the News Letter.

“He told me he would look after it all for me and try and set me up with a ride next season.

“There’s been interest in me from different teams and it’s nice not to have to worry about trying to sort out that end of things out myself. He’ll let me know what the situation is when all offers are on the table and then we can go and talk about it.

“I’m more than happy to trust him with that because he stuck to his word when he told me he’d run me in Stock 1000 this year.”

Farmer, who made his BSB debut earlier this season with a couple of one-off rides as a replacement for the injured Stuart Easton, is eager to make the step up to the elite class full-time next year.

“Hopefully I can make the step up to Superbikes next year and if I can do half as well as I’ve done in the past two years then I think we’ll be doing okay,” he said.

“I loved riding the Superbike because you have a lot more feel from the suspension and the tyres, but to be honest it was difficult to adapt to the race tyres because I’m used to riding on the road-legal tyres on the Superstock bike.

“The full-blown slicks on the Superbike were hard to get used to because you can carry so much more corner speed, but I didn’t do too badly in qualifying because I was only a full second off pole position and I was chuffed to bits,” he added.

“But the races didn’t go to plan and I think I was trying too hard rather than just relaxing on the bike and that’s when things went wrong, but it’s a steep learning curve and it’s something you have to go through.”

Farmer says his championship success has ‘yet to sink in’ as he mulls over his remarkable progress in Britain over the past two seasons.

“To come out with a second title in my second full year in BSB is hard to believe. It hasn’t sank in yet at all,” he said.


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