In the second of three installments covering the traditionally busy mid-season schedule, we examine how the team set about recovering from the absence of Conor Cummins following the events of the TT.

Returning to racing for the first time in more than two months after fracturing his heel in a high-speed accident at the Valencia World Superbike round, MSS Colchester Kawasaki Superbike regular Simon Andrews deputised for Conor in a one-off ride at the National Superstock 1000 Championship support races at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone with two fifth place finishes, but with the season barely at the halfway stage and the likelihood of Cummins being out of action for some time, a regular replacement rider had to be found. That rider came in the form of 24 year old Victor Cox from Trowbridge, currently in joint 14th place in the championship standings.

Victor Cox:

"I was over the moon to get the opportunity from Ian Lougher to ride for his team. The National Superstocks is a tough class but I knew I had the best possible chance riding the team's ZX-10R. Conor had been riding fantastically and it was unfortunate that his season ended as it did. I really enjoyed riding the Blackhorse Kawasaki, the team were great. Every time I rode the Ninja ZX-10R I felt more and more comfortable on it going quicker each time."

Knockhill was very much a 'getting to know you period' for Victor and the Kawasaki however in first qualifying he still managed 12th, just 0.73secs behind early pace setter Glen Richards and eventually qualified on the fourth row of the grid in 14th. However whilst lying 11th Victor crashed out through no fault of his own thus bringing an end to what was shaping up to be a great performance, something that wasn't lost on team boss Lougher. For David Pearce it was a weekend that showed his obvious talent, winning the shoot-out race by almost half a second and eventually finishing 24th in the main race.

From Knockhill it was on to Scarborough for the annual Cock o' the North meeting, and on the first of his two planned visits to the North Yorkshire venue, Lougher came away with five third place finishes, a fourth and one fifth. It was then a quick dash to the Isle of Man for the Southern 100 before returning to Snetterton where Victor Cox was the highest placed Kawasaki rider as he put his Knockhill disappointment behind him to finish a great sixth. He then fully justified his wild-card selection at the FIM Superstock 1000 Championship round at Silverstone when he rode to a very creditable 14th place points finish, a strong ride which didn't go unnoticed by the Eurosport commentary team during their live coverage of the race.

Returning to action for Blackhorse Kawasaki at Silverstone was Pearce who stormed through to 18th place in the Superstock 600 race when it was stopped with two laps remaining thus denying the young Manx rider an even higher placing, nevertheless a very satisfying weekend for the team.

The following weekend it was the Brands Hatch GP circuit in Kent as Cox had the misfortune to crash out of Round 8 of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship but not before he had once again shown that both he and the team's Ninja ZX-10R were more than capable of running at the cutting edge of proceedings. Lining up Howie Mainwaring for fourth, Victor arrived at Westfield only for another rider to make a mistake giving him no chance of taking avoiding action and both riders went down to bring his race to a disappointing end. However there were positives to be taken from the race. Victor was more than comfortable mixing it with the front runners and a fourth best overall lap time, despite only completing two real racing laps, was an excellent achievement.

For his team-mate David Pearce it was a weekend where the young rider again finished in the top 20 in the Metzeler National Superstock 600 class.

Part Three to follow......