The AP Kawasaki team endured a tough weekend at Silverstone with just Freddie Russo scoring points in the Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship race. The Brentwood rider finished in 11th position but there was disappoinment in the 1000cc category with Leon Hunt retiring after the first lap and Michael Booth failing to start after injuring his back in a qualifying crash.

Having qualified in ninth place around the GP circuit, Russo made a solid start to slot into eighth at the completion of the first lap of the 10-lap Superstock 600cc race and there he remained for the first six laps as he battled with Deane Brown and Cody Nally. As the race wore on, no less than six riders were scrapping it out for sixth place but sadly for Freddie, he was the one who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and he got shuffled back through the pack. Just two seconds off sixth place, Freddie eventually finished in 11th place which places him in sixth in the championship table with just one round remaining.

Brighton's Hunt again qualified inside the top 15 and after placing sixth in the morning warm-up, hopes were high of a good top ten finish in the 11-lap race but it all went wrong on the first lap and he was forced to retire with gearbox problems. Meanwhile for Brough rider Booth, the weekend started well when he placed tenth in Friday's free practice session but that was as good as he got as he crashed out in the opening qualifying session later in the day, damaging vertebrae in his back and ruling him out of the action for the rest of the weekend and possibly the final round at Brands Hatch in two weeks time.

Freddie Russo: "I made a really good start to the race but was just lacking a bit of track knowledge. I was fine through all the quick corners but weak around the slow corners and that's where most of the overtaking takes place. I'd move forward and then I'd drop back and that was pretty much the story through the whole race. The group behind caught up and then I dropped back a bit further so the race didn't quite go to plan but we got a finish and some more points. We head to Brands Hatch next which is a circuit we know well so we'll look forward to getting back towards the front there."

Leon Hunt: "Qualifying went well for me and, to be honest, I felt really strong all weekend as the bike was working well and I felt really confident. I was fourth for most of qualifying only to get bumped back down the order in the last couple of minutes but had a good morning warm-up when, despite the quickshifter not working, I equalled my qualifying time. We fixed the quickshifter before the race only for it to play up again and when I tried to change gear manually, the bike just wouldn't go into gear smoothly so rather than risk the gearbox locking up and damaging the machine, it was best to pull in. It was a disappointing end to what looked like being a good weekend and I'm just not having any luck at the minute."

Alan Greig: "It's been a tough weekend, probably our worst of the season. Silverstone's a circuit that should have suited Freddie but for whatever reason, he never gelled with it and couldn't string a decent lap together. 11th wasn't disastrous and it was more valuable points so he'll head to his local Brands Hatch circuit where he should go well. Michael had a huge crash in qualifying, destroying the bike and sustaining a stable fracture of one of his lower vertebrae and although he was walking about and keen to ride, it just wasn't possible for him to race. It was a real shame as he was looking forward to the weekend and riding well but it was just an unfortunate incident. Leon qualified reasonably well and had good pace but suffered an intermittent technical problem in the race and had to pull in. Like I say, it was a disappointing weekend so all we can do is put it behind us and look forward to finishing the season positively at Brands."

Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship (10 laps)1 Keith Farmer (Yamaha) 22m39.327s2 Glenn Irwin (Kawasaki) +0.028s3 Josh Wainwright (Suzuki) +14.299s4 Johnny Blackshaw (Triumph) +16.313s5 Alex Olsen (Triumph)+16.426s6 Ben Burke (Yamaha) +25.458s7 Deane Brown (Yamaha) +25.470s8 James East (Yamaha) +25.684s9 Cody Nally (Kawasaki) +26.217s10 Dominic Usher (Yamaha) +26.268s11 Freddie Russo (AP Kawasaki) +26.684s

Championship positions (after 11 rounds)1 Farmer 202pts2 Irwin 1293 Behan 1194 Brown 1115 Blackshaw 966 Russo 95

Metzeler National Superstock 1000cc Championship (11 laps)1 Luke Quigley (BMW) 24m22.249s2 Tristan Palmer (Honda) +0.054s3 Howie Mainwaring (Kawasaki) +0.160s4 Taylor Knapp (Kawasaki) +0.491s5 David Johnson (BMW) +2.007s6 Richard Cooper (BMW) +2.109s7 Danny Buchan (Kawasaki) +2.139s8 Joe Burns (Kawasaki) +2.681s9 Adam Jenkinson (Honda) +8.809s10 Victor Cox (Kawasaki) +11.135sDNF Leon Hunt (AP Kawasaki)DNS Michael Booth (AP Kawasaki)

Championship positions (after 11 rounds)1 Cooper 190.5pts2 Buchan 1443 Quigley 1304 Palmer 1165 Mainwaring 1046 Jenkinson 93.515 Booth 2821 Hunt 13