Max Cook ready to “fight with these guys” after Brands Hatch BSB triple podium

Max Cook was in good spirits after his third time in third place over the BSB Brands Hatch weekend and arrived to speak with British Superbikes as the latest rider to adopt a distinctive bit of headgear, adding a chefs hat to Storm Stacey’s top hat and Scott Redding’s cowboy hat. The AJN Steelstock bimota rider explained how the chef hat came to be:

“Firstly, I’m wearing a chef’s hat, but a Cook. My mechanic got me one for the weekend, for a triple podium, I’m going to wear it.

So we’ve got a rival hat, so coming soon - it should be a big sell out! I think this one will be.”

Cook then got back to race business, reflecting on his triple podium and how he and his bimota team can use that moving forward, adding:

“Amazing weekend to do a triple podium, again, obviously, I’m really happy with that. I think it did get a little bit closer, you know, to these boys towards the end, but yeah, amazing work by the team - and we tried a lot of stuff during the weekend.

I think there’s a lot of pros and cons with that and obviously I can take that throughout the rest of the year as well.”

The number 30 was also keen to shift his focus, not a consistent frontrunner Cook is looking to take the next step, and pick up his first win, explaining:

“Third place is one thing, but obviously, now I just want to start to try and, you know, fight with these guys. I think obviously these boys are consistently first and second, you know, throughout the whole year, and I’m sure that they will be - so if I can try and get in the mix a little bit, try and fight, that would be amazing.

So for the rest of the year I feel like I’m riding the crest of the wave at the minute, and I just need that, you know, for my own confidence.

It’s amazing that I finally feel free I guess I can ride how I want to - and nothing’s really fazing me that much at the moment. And, you know, I feel super happy with how everything is going at the moment.”

Looking ahead, the next race is a return to Oulton Park, which also held the opening round of 2026 and a pre-season test, so Cook is looking forward to returning with data:

“It took a little bit of setting up when we first got there, for the test, the pre-season test, we’ve already had round one there and I think it should be good - I think I had good speed throughout that weekend, but because that was the first time I maybe had the pace for a podium at a track that wasn’t at Thruxton, kind of got a little bit hot headed and I made a lot of mistakes.

I’ve learned a lot from that and I know to keep a level head now properly and if I can bring that into Oulton - I know I had good speed there round one, so, you know, it should be even better.”