It was a double podium finish on Sunday for ILR Kawasaki as Filip Backlund and Victor Cox finished second and third respectively in the tenth round of the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship at Donington Park.

Perhaps buoyed by team manager Ian Lougher's recent performances on the roads at the Ulster Grand Prix and the Isle of Man Classic TT, both riders were on the pace all weekend with Backlund in particular showing impressive form as he dominated both qualifying sessions to claim his, and the team's, first pole position in this series.

Filip was totally unfazed by the cold and wet conditions that greeted the riders and teams for first qualifying as he topped the session with Victor taking things steady in tenth with one eye on the second session the following day. Thankfully much better conditions prevailed on Saturday and this time Cox got in on the act, as both he and his team-mate quickly laid down the markers for the others to follow. Eight minutes into the session Backlund went quickest followed three minutes later by Cox. With eight minutes remaining Victor was still quickest as he further improved on his time with Filip occupying fourth, however a minute later it was Backlund who went to the top of the pile and that's how it remained with Victor's time still good enough for second, the deficit being just 0.073s with the top 20 riders separated by one second. Both riders 'ideal' lap times were fast with Victor's being inside the lap record.
Cox and Backlund were soon dicing for second place on the first lap of the race behind early leader Hudson Kennaugh and on the second lap Filip moved clear of Victor by half a second and set about chasing down Kennaugh who had a lead of almost one second. For the next few laps Kennaugh's lead over Backlund remained about the same with Cox now just over a second back in third and fending off the challenge of Joe Burns as these four began to move clear of the rest of the field. Backlund then began to eat into the deficit for two laps before Kennaugh responded to again put the gap out to almost one second.

However on the ninth lap, as Cox finally began to break clear of Burns, Filip broke the lap record to close right up on Kennaugh and on the twelfth lap after earlier trying to go in front at Coppice, he made a move stick at the Old Hairpin to take the lead.

With television coverage at a premium, Victor now had a secure ringside seat in third as the race long battle for the lead raged just in front, and as they went on to their last lap Filip was riding hard to hold of the challenge of Kennaugh, but with his tyres starting to go off he just went a bit wide at the Melbourne Hairpin and left the door open for the South African who didn't need a second invitation as he went through on the inside.

Backlund fought back on the uphill run to Goddards and, with his Ninja ZX-10R weaving under him with the effort, he had one last try but just couldn't get past and it was Kennaugh who took the win from a frustrated Filip with Victor well clear in third.

Cox and Backlund are now third and fourth respectively in the standings with just three points separating the two.

It's a measure of the determination of the team and its riders, that the result was met with a mixture of both delight and just a little disappointment. Nevertheless with both Backlund and Cox on the podium, pole position, a lap record and topping every session but one, it was a good weekend for ILR Kawasaki who now look ahead to the next round at Silverstone on 4-6 October.

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