Podium brace at Thruxton maintains Richard Kerr's Superstock Championship challenge

Richard Kerr’s challenge for the Pirelli National Superstock Championship continued with a brace of second place finishes in round seven at Thruxton, Hampshire.

Kilmacrennan rider Kerr, who wides for the Dumfries-based AMD Motorsport team, is second in the Championship standings.

Kerry second quickest time across Friday’s two practice sessions, but qualifying on Saturday was hit by a heavy rain shower and he was tenth quickest on the Honda Fireblade.

With second quickest Alex Olsen withdrawing due to a shoulder injury, Kerr was able to start the first race from ninth on the grid.

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Held over 14 laps, a lightning start saw Kerr move up to fifth on the opening lap and two laps later this had become third as he set about closing the gap to race leader Dan Linfoot and Billy McConnell. The trio were soon together and although Kerry wasn’t quite able to make a pass, Linfoot ran wide at the final chicane and he dived through to take second, 0.412s beind race winner McConnell.

With the quickest lap of the race, he started Sunday’s encounter, this time held over 15 laps, from pole position and although he made a good getaway, he was lucky not to be taken out at the first corner when Lewis Rollo ran into his rear wheel.

Undeterred, Kerr quickly regrouped to slot into third on the opening lap and, just like the previous day, it was a three-way battle for the win between the 23-year old, Linfoot and McConnell. There was never more than three-quarters of a second between them but the wily Linfoot timed his move to perfection to take the win from Kerr and McConnell.

There was just 0.345 seconds covering the top three at the flag with Kerr staying second in the overall placings, just 11 points adrift of Linfoot.

“I’ve never had a podium here before so it’s good to lay that to rest and although I was frustrated with ninth in qualifying, I felt confident I had the pace for the two races,” Kerr said.

“With ninth on the grid for Saturday’s race, I knew it was important to get a good start and I got up to P5 straightaway, so I was soon inside the top three. It’s so hard to pass here though and any move would have been dodgy, but I took full advantage of Dan running wide at the final chicane to take second.

“I had another good race on Sunday and there was nothing between the three of us once more. Dan’s a good rider with a lot of experience but we’ll get him next time. Two second place finishes mean it’s been a good weekend though and with the gap just 11 points, it’s all to play for.”

Round eight of the series takes place at Cadwell Park on August 26-28.