With preparations underway for the new season, ILR Kawasaki are pleased to announce that Filip Backlund will partner Victor Cox in the team's 2013 Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship line-up.

The 22 year old from Sweden is one of the most promising up-and-coming Scandinavian talents. He began his motorcycle racing career at the tender age of three in motocross and from the age of seven he competed for four years in races all over Sweden. In 2001, at the age of eleven he got a ride for Kawasaki and won the Junior Championship with sixteen wins out of a possible nineteen. In 2002 Filip competed in mini-moto races all around Scandinavia and a couple of races in Europe where he won most of the races he participated in. The following year he won the Swedish 125cc Aprilia Championship with five wins out of six and moved up to 250cc racing in 2004 where he again took the Swedish Championship, the youngest rider ever to do so on both occasions.

At the end of 2004 he signed a contract with Suzuki to run in the Supersport 600cc class in Scandinavia and in his first season he took some wins and podium finishes. He stayed with the 600cc class for 2006 competing in Sweden with a couple of races in the European 600cc Championship and in the Superstock 600cc class that supports with WSBK and WSS, he had a 14th place finish at Brno. In 2007 he moved up to the 1000cc and the Superbike class, participating in thirteen races and finishing on the podium in eleven of them with some new lap records thrown in for good measure. The following year Filip rode for the Belgian MTM Racing Team in the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, it was another good year with an 8th place finish at Donington.


In 2009, Filip returned home to Sweden to compete in the Pro Superbike Championship and took the title with seven wins and a total of eleven podium finishes out of a possible fourteen. In 2010 he raced both in Sweden and Pro Superbike and also two races in the Endurance World Championship. At Le-Mans he crashed and was unable to take part in the race. He also did the final round in Qatar where he lined up second on the grid in the Superstock class.

Since 2011 he has raced with his own team both in Sweden with the Pro Superbike Championship and also in the IDM Superbike Championship. In 2011 he took the title in Sweden with ten straight wins out of fourteen with his best result in the IDM Superbike Championship being an 8th place finish at the Sachsenring.

Last year Filip made the switch from Suzuki to Kawasaki and the season started well with encouraging pre-season testing in Spain. On the final pre-season test at Lausitzring he unfortunately crashed and subsequently required an operation. As a result he missed the first five races in Sweden and also the first six races in the IDM. He returned to win seven races on the trot and finished a brilliant 4th in the final Swedish Championship standings. He also competed twice in the IDM Championship with two 14th places at Assen and at the final round at Hockenheim where he scored two 8th place finishes.

Filip is a hard working, determined young rider with ambitions to ultimately compete and succeed at World Superbike level and he will have the full support of everyone within the team at ILR Kawasaki.


2012 saw Victor in his second full season with the team. Replacing the injured Conor Cummins midway through the 2010 season, he fought his way to eighth in the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship and he went one better the following year with seventh, despite a run of bad luck in the early part of the season.

In 2012 the Trowbridge man was one of the strong contenders for the Championship and his third place in the final standings, including three podium finishes, was just rewards for the highly rated and extremely popular rider.

Victor and ILR Kawasaki were the only rider and team to score points at every round in one of the hardest fought championships on the domestic calendar and they will be going all out for the top step in 2013.

Ian Lougher:

'We are again delighted to retain the services of Victor Cox for 2013. Victor has shown time and time again that he is undoubtedly a very talented rider and is a highly valued member of the team. I am also pleased to welcome Filip Backlund to the team for the 2013 season. Filip is a young rider of enormous ability and potential and has a great future in the sport, his signing for the team reiterates our commitment and ethos of developing and supporting young up and coming riders and giving them every support as they strive to fulfill their full potential and realise their ambitions. He will benefit enormously from having Victor as a team-mate and I feel he will reap the rewards of the experience within the ILR Kawasaki set-up.

As a team, we are again honoured to be entrusted with the tag of Official Kawasaki Motors UK Superstock Team, and look forward to a successful and enjoyable 2013 season.'



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