Keith Farmer's British Supersport title hopes hit by Assen time penalty

County Tyrone man Keith Farmer now leads the British Supersport series by 43 points

Keith Farmer's hopes of clinching the British Supersport title with a round to spare have been dashed by a time penalty after he crossed the line second in Sunday's race in Assen.

The Tyrone rider looked to have won the title with his second spot but the race stewards later hit him with a 60-second penalty for taking down Ben Currie.

Farmer collided with Currie on the final lap of the race.

The penalty dropped Farmer to 19th spot and completed his miserable weekend.

Clogher man Farmer crashed out in Saturday's sprint race in the Netherlands after he also slid out in his previous race at Oulton Park.

Farmer's penalty meant that Carrickfergus man Andrew Irwin was promoted to second place behind race winner Eemeli Lahti and the county Antrim man is now the Tyrone rider's nearest challenger, 43 points in arrears.

The concluding Brands Hatch round in two weeks will have 50 points available so Farmer remains a strong favourite to clinch the title.

However, he was left understandably disappointed by his weekend in the Netherlands.

"Apologies to Ben Currie for taking him out with a mistake from myself and the bike locking up," said Farmer on his Facebook page.

"I apologise to the team and all my sponsors, and fans for not getting it done this weekend. On to Brands."

Irwin grabbed pole position for the feature race in the Netherlands but Currie moved in front on the opening lap with Farmer in third followed by Dubliner Jack Kennedy.

Kennedy retired on lap 10 and helped by Currie's exit, Lahti worked his way through to clinch his maiden Supersport victory.

Tom Ward, Jamie Perrin and another Northern Irishman David Allingham completed the top five finishers.

Glenn Irwin was the best of the Northern Ireland trio in the British Superbikes, finishing 14th in both races.

Josh Elliott came in 19th in both race one and two while Michael Laverty finished 15th in the second race after failing to finish the opener.