The AP Kawasaki team enjoyed their best weekend of racing so far in the 2011 season with all of their riders scoring points, the highlight being Freddie Russo's second place at Brands Hatch in Kent today.

The Brentford rider took his second podium of the year in the Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship to move up to fifth place in the title table and he was backed up by Leon Hunt and Patrick Medcalf taking 12th and 14th respectively in the 1000cc category.

After qualifying strongly in third place, Russo made a good start to the race and completed the first lap in third place behind Connor Behan and championship leader Keith Farmer and Freddie was only a third of a second behind Farmer when the safety car came out on lap four due to an incident.

When the race resumed on lap seven, he soon overhauled Farmer although he came under pressure from the Triumph pairing of Alex Olsen and Johnny Blackshaw. However, despite a minor technical problem, he was able to keep Olsen firmly at bay and he eventually crossed the line just clear of his rival for a superb podium finish.

Hunt, meanwhile, also had a strong start to the weekend with fifth in opening qualifying and although he slipped back to 13th in the final session, a good showing in morning warm-up put him in a good frame of mind for the 15-lap race. The Brighton rider slipped back at the start to 17th place but he regrouped well and by lap two he was up into the points. Overtaking both John McGuinness and Marshall Neill, he moved up to 13th and this became 12th when Victor Cox crashed out. It was here where he finished with the race being stopped early due to rainfall.

For new team recruit Medcalf, it was a whole new experience having never seen the circuit or ridden in the UK before. However, the Australian rider acquitted himself extremely well and after qualifying in a fine 17th place he moved up, just like Hunt, and was rewarded for an excellent effort with 14th place and two championship points.

Freddie Russo: "Right from the word go we've been on it this weekend and after gaining a good set up at a recent Donington Park test, we started with the same here as it's a similar fast, flowing circuit. It all went to plan from the beginning and I managed to get second in first qualifying. I tried a few different settings for qualifying which didn't work although I only dropped one place and was still on the front row which is what you want. I made a reasonable start and was feeling good in third when the safety car came out and when it pulled in I got past Keith Farmer as soon as I could and although Connor was setting an unbelievable pace at the front, I was able to keep Alex Olsen behind me. I had to contend with a couple of false neutrals when I was in fourth gear but apart from that the race was faultless and to finish second is brilliant. All in all it's been a great weekend so a big thanks to everyone at AP Kawasaki especially Alan, Paul, Tony and big Carl."

Leon Hunt: "The weekend started well for me, going fifth in first qualifying but I had an oil leak in the second session and I barely got any laps in so it dropped me down to 13th. Morning warm-up went well though and I actually went quicker than I had done in qualifying so was feeling confident for the race. However, I got a terrible start and had a clutch issue which was making it very difficult to close in on the group in front of me, which was a real shame as I feel we had the pace to run top six or top eight this weekend. It's the third meeting in a row I've been in the points so it's positive in that aspect but we've also had a few issues with the bike this weekend so it's also been frustrating. I feel like I'm riding well though so if we can resolve these little niggles we'll have a great chance of cracking the top ten."

Patrick Medcalf: "Coming from the Australian Formula Extreme Championship and a Yamaha machine, riding a Kawasaki here and on a circuit I'd never seen before was a huge learning curve for me but a tremendous experience. The spec of the bike is higher than what I'm used to and there's so much strength in depth but it's been a lot of fun and I'm pleased with the result. I've had to learn so much, right across the board, but my aim was to be in the points so I'm glad I've achieved that. If I could have been a bit smoother in the race, I could have been racing with Leon but, overall, I'm happy and would love to come back for a full season in 2012 so a huge thanks to the team for giving me the opportunity."

Alan Greig: "Obviously, Freddie's podium has been the highlight and I'm really pleased for him as he thoroughly deserved the result today and rode really well. He couldn't have picked a better weekend to do it as he had lots of his sponsors and supporters here and he's done brilliantly throughout the three days. Leon also qualified well in the first qualifying session but then ran into some technical problems dropping him from row two to row four but he rode really hard despite encountering a few more issues and picked up some solid points.

"Patrick was having a wild card outing with us with a view to having a full season in 2012 and despite everything being new to him, his qualifying and race result have been remarkable. So, overall, it's been a great weekend for us and we'll be looking for more of the same next time out at Cadwell."

Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship (14 laps)

1 Connor Behan (Kawasaki) 22m 01.106s2 Freddie Russo (AP Kawasaki) +2.330s3 Alex Olsen (Triumph) +2.618s4 Keith Farmer (Yamaha) +4.104s5 Johnny Blackshaw (Triumph) +4.931s6 Ben Burke (Yamaha) +10.622s7 Grant Whitaker (Yamaha) +10.665s8 Josh Wainwright (Suzuki) +11.285s9 Jonathan Lodge (Triumph) +11.447s10 Alex Barkshire (Yamaha) +12.125s

Championship Positions (after7 rounds)

1 Farmer 122pts2 Behan 963 Irwin 644 Brown 625 Russo 58= Burke 58

Metzeler National Superstock 1000cc Championship (10 laps)

1 Howie Mainwaring (Kawasaki) 15m00.330s2 Richard Cooper (BMW) +0.168s3 Luke Quigley (BMW) +0.379s4 Jimmy Storrar (BMW) +1.699s5 Tristan Palmer (Honda) +2.475s6 Adam Jenkinson (Honda) +3.193s7 Joe Burns (Kawasaki) +4.616s8 Daniel Johnson (Kawasaki) +5.730s9 Danny Buchan (Kawasaki) +6.125s10 Joe Dickinson (Honda) +11.058s12 Leon Hunt (AP Kawasaki) +11.468s14 Patrick Medcalf (AP Kawasaki) +14.336s

Championshippositions (after 8 rounds)

1 Cooper 130.5pts2 Buchan 1243 Mainwaring 794 Palmer 765 Quigley 736 Jenkinson 66.520 Hunt 926 Medcalf 2