The opportunity has arisen after Jordanstown’s Andy Reid was ruled out for the rest of the season through injury following a crash at Silverstone, leaving him with a broken femur.

Ballinamallard rider Elliott has been competing in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship in for the Ulster team and sealed two rostrum finishes in recent weeks.

Assen hosts the penultimate round of the championship and Elliott – who rode the S1000RR Superbike earlier in the season at Snetterton – is relishing the chance to shine at the legendary circuit in the Netherlands.

“It’s a great opportunity, right at the time of the season when any rider wants to get noticed,” he said.“At Snetterton we were in at the deep end late on, as Christian made an eleventh hour decision not to race. This time I have a little more time to prepare,”

he said of his earlier season opportunity in Norfolk at round five.

“Assen is a circuit that I love riding at and as much as I know it will be a challenging weekend, my goal is to use every session sensibly to again acclimatise myself with the Tyco BMW Superbike, then hopefully make a good account of myself on Sunday when it matters.”

Elliott, who contested the Superstock 1000 series on the Tyco BMW in 2016 after winning the title the previous year, was brought back into the team after Ian Hutchinson was hurt in a crash at the Isle of Man TT in June.

Team Manager Philip Neill added:

“Josh has rediscovered some of the form that helped him win a British championship just a couple of seasons ago, and also feature strongly last year on the Tyco BMW – so hopefully that will help him this weekend when he again steps up to the BSB class.

“We all understand the size of the task for any young rider making the quantum leap to the hugely competitive British Superbike Championship, but again, we at Tyco BMW are showing our commitment to the future, by giving these young lads a chance.

“It’s up to Josh now to grab it with both hands. It’s a sizeable task of course, but there’s no doubting the fact that he has the ability to do a good job.”[/b]

Kyle White