Four-time Supersport and Superstock champion Keith Farmer has announced his retirement from racing with immediate effect.
The County Tyrone rider has endured a challenging year with his original Superstock team folding and while he intended to complete the season with the iForce Lloyd and Jones BMW team, a spate of crashes at Silverstone at the weekend has led to him making the decision to retire.
It was always the 34-year old’s intention to hang up his leathers at the end of the 2021 season and he leaves having enjoyed a successful decade in the sport, excelling on the tarmac just as he had done in Supermoto before.
“I have had a tough year but that’s just racing,” said Farmer. “I stepped in to finish the year for PR Racing BMW but after two relatively big crashes, one taking out Takumi Takahashi, which I am sorry for, and the other smashing myself to bits, I have realised that it is time to walk away.
“It’s never easy to just pack up and walk away, but at the end of this year I was always planning on retirement from racing.”
The ‘Clogher Bullet’ won the Superstock 600 title in 2011 with his own team and that brought him to the attention of BSB team owner Paul Bird who leant his support for the following 2012 season when Farmer moved up to the Superstock 1000 series.
Farmer repaid the faith shown in him and further demonstrated his potential as five wins on the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki helped him defeat the official Honda entry of Jason O’Halloran by an impressive 50 points.
A promotion to Bird’s BSB team followed in 2013 but despite showing glimpses of form, fourth at Knockhill the highlight, the duo parted ways two thirds of the way through the season with Farmer being replaced by Noriyuki Haga.
A switch to the PR Racing team was made for 2014 and although results were hard to come by, it was in this season that he recorded his solitary BSB podium, third place behind Josh Waters and Richard Cooper coming at Brands Hatch.
Farmer then further emphasised his versatility by winning the British Supersport Championship in 2017, stepping in as a late replacement for the injured Luke Jones at Appleyard Macadam Yamaha.
Nine wins were taken during the season and he was rewarded in 2018 with a ride with Northern Ireland’s TAS Racing team. Contesting the Superstock 1000 series once more, Farmer took his second title in the class, this time on the BMW S1000RR.
He remained with the team in 2019 and returned to the BSB series but after taking six top ten finishes at the first four rounds, he crashed in qualifying at Knockhill with two broken legs bringing his season to a painful end.
Back to full fitness for the delayed 2020 season, Farmer lined up with Buildbase Suzuki but bad luck again struck him as a crash in qualifying at the opening round at Donington Park resulted in an arm injury which severely affected his season.
Reflecting on his trophy-laden career, Farmer, who’s now based at Penrith, said he feels extremely lucky to have won four British titles after riding for some of the top teams in the paddock.
“I’ve had 10 good years of racing in the BSB paddock riding for some of best teams with great opportunities, some worked & some didn’t. I count myself extremely lucky to have been given these opportunities and with these I have won four British titles.”
“I want to thank every single person that has ever supported myself in anyway shape or form, not least my family who have been behind me every step of the way through the good and the bad. I could not have done this without any of you guys.”