British Superbike rookie Max Cook is “starting to look like a serious contender” according to his team boss after the Swindon rider produced another fine performance in the British Motostar Championship at the weekend.
Cook claimed two top 11 places at Scotland’s Knockhill Circuit, a result that impressed Repli-Cast UK Racing manager Gary Dawson.
“After showing great potential in the opening rounds of the championship and suffering a really difficult race day at Knockhill with the changing weather conditions, it’s been very positive to reconfirm the potential of Max himself, this weekend,” said Dawson.
“We were on the back foot from the start as Max hadn’t been around this circuit before, but he learned quickly and we were fast all weekend, qualified well and aside for the downpour in the second race, we had great results from both races.
“Congratulations to the whole team but especially to Max, who is only in his rookie year of British Championship competition and is starting to look like a serious contender.”
The British Superbike rookie faced the unknown at the Scottish track having never raced there before but he soon got to grips with the cricuit during free practice.
The 13-year-old went quicker in qualifying as he set the 12th fastest qualifying time and a place on the fourth row of the grid.
In race one Cook lost a place after the opening lap before tucking in behind the KTM of Lee Hindle and claiming 11th place at the chequered flag.
Cook faired better in race two as he took an impressive 10th place in wet weather.
After a short battle in which he got the better of Joshua Hodge on lap seven, Cook tried to close the gap on the riders in front of him.
But the difficult conditions hampered his progress and struggling to find any grip in the wet conditions, Cook rode a mature race to bring his bike home in 10th place.
Cook himself was also pleased with his efforts saying: “The first race was pretty good, I was in a four way battle with the KTM’s for ninth place.
“I was so happy to take 0.7 seconds off best time and take 11th place.
“Race two was wet as expected and a great decision by the team got me on wet tyres early to stop any last minute drama on grid.
“The race for me was tricky as I just couldn’t find any grip and despite trying as hard as I could I couldn’t stay with group of riders ahead of me.
“With all the moments I was having I was just happy to finish the race in 10th.”
Pictures courtesy of SB Media Solutions.
