Dan Linfoot extended his lead in the Pirelli National Superstock Championship to 30 points on Saturday afternoon after a hard-fought win in the first of two races at Oulton Park this weekend.

The Optimum Bikes Honda rider dived up the inside of Alastair Seeley (Synetiq BMW) at Druids on the final lap to win by 0.248s and Seeley had to settle for third after also losing out to Richard Kerr (AMD Motorsport Honda) at the final corner.

Linfoot grabbed the holeshot and led off the line with Kerr and Seeley slotting in behind and it soon became a six-way fight the lead with Lewis Rollo (IN Competition Aprilia), Joe Talbot (JR Performance Racing Honda) and Ashley Beech (Jones Dorling Racing Honda).

Less than 1.5s covered the six riders but, having taken second from Kerr at Old Hall at the start of lap six, Seeley did the same to Linfoot a lap later to hit the front for the first time. Linfoot hit back at Druids on lap nine only for Seeley to respond at the next corner which also enabled Kerr to sneak back up into second.

Former champion Seeley looked like he was going to hold on for win but he ran slightly wide at Druids which allowed Linfoot to re-take the lead and Kerr took full advantage to grab second at the final corner and limit his losses to Linfoot in the title race.

Further back, Talbot took fourth ahead of Rollo and Beech with returnee Fraser Rogers, Alex Olsen, David Allingham and Luke Hedger completing the top ten.