Brands Hatch hosted the latest round of the BSB Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship with Team ILR supporting Robert Kennedy (Team Sandown) who was hoping to put his recent run of bad luck firmly behind him.

On the popular GP circuit, Kennedy was well on the pace in Free Practice and in qualifying, but his efforts in the latter session were frustrated when he found himself caught up in traffic which would ultimately place him 11th on the grid.

Undeterred, it was a determined Kennedy who set off in the race and it wasn't long until he was mixing it with the leaders. 

As the race settled down, Robert found himself in the middle of a fantastic battle for third place and as the race entered the last lap RK was still in the hunt for a podium place.

At the last corner he made a brave move for fourth but just couldn't quite make it, and in turn he lost one place to cross the line in a confidence boosting 6th place.

Brands Hatch was another big team effort by everyone, with the next round in two weeks time at the very fast Thruxton circuit in Hampshire.



Team ILR owner/manager Ian Lougher::

"After a couple of tough rounds for Robert recently he needed a really decent result to get his confidence back on track. 

We fitted some new ZCOO front and rear pads to his ZX-6 and this helped RK stop and turn the bike, especially into Druids and Stirling's corners. 

After a great start which put him in a 6 rider fight for 3rd place for the entire race, he approached the final corner and not wanting to settle for 5th place he realized he could possibly get 3rd instead, but ran a metre wide resulting in a 6th position. 

We can move on to Thruxton now in 2 weeks where he once again will be a newcomer to the circuit but with renewed confidence."

Robert Kennedy:

"We had a strong start to the weekend finishing FP1 in P2 and FP2 in 6th which I was really happy about. 

Qualifying didn't go to plan and I ended up starting the race from 11th on the grid but we got a good start and got up into 3rd.

There was 5 of us having a dice for 3rd place and we eventually dropped back to 5th.
 
I made a move for 4th in the last corner which cost me some time and ended up finishing in 6th. 

Really pleased with the result, we have made a big improvement with set up with the bike this weekend and I really felt a lot more comfortable on the bike. Pity we didn't get the podium today nevertheless, I am over the moon with the progress we have made this weekend. 

Big thanks to everyone who has helped me this year, especially Team Sandown and Team ILR, Willy, Andy, Ian, Asa, Greg, Sandy for all the hard work. 

Also big thanks to all my sponsors who make this possible and to my family and friends who make the trip over to support me most weekends."