Joe Talbot claimed his maiden victory in the Pirelli National Superstock Championship at Donington Park, while Dan Linfoot eked out his overall advantage despite only managing a sixth place finish.

JR Performance Racing rider Talbot was the clear winner, the Honda rider taking the flag a clear 2.9s ahead of fellow Fireblade rider Billy McConnell (C&L Fairburn Properties/Jackson Racing) with Alastair Seeley (Synetiq BMW) taking third.

The initial race was red flagged on the fifth lap when rain began to fall and with the re-start held over just eight laps, wet tyres were the order of the day in the greasy conditions, Talbot grabbing an early lead from IN Competition Aprilia’s Fraser Rogers and McConnell. 

Rogers’ team-mate Lewis Rollo ran in fourth ahead of Ben Luxton (Luxton Racing Honda) and Joe Francis (STAUFF Fluid Power/GR Motorsport Kawasaki) but championship leader Linfoot (Optimum Bikes Racing Honda) and main rival Richard Kerr (AMD Motorsport Honda) were both towards the bottom of the top ten.

Talbot soon opened an advantage of 1.5s over McConnell as Rogers and Rollo disputed third whilst Seeley slowly edged his way back through the pack after a tentative opening couple of laps. Kerr moved up to seventh as Linfoot dropped back to tenth.

McConnell had cut Talbot’s lead to a second by lap five, but the youngster immediately retaliated to pull away in the closing stages and take a comfortable win whilst Seeley overhauled Luxton, Rogers and Rollo in quick succession in the final two laps to take the final podium position.

Rollo got the better of Rogers for fifth whilst Linfoot rallied late in the race to take sixth and with Kerr slipping back to ninth, he extended his championship lead to 41 points.