Max Cook makes podium return in BSB Donington Race 3

Max Cook had been in a slow recovery after a crash at the Thruxton round earlier in the year, with a return to Donington Park, where he finished on the BSB podium in all races back in round two, seeing the bimota rider back on the podium for the first time since Brands Hatch.

Speaking to British Superbikes after the final race of the weekend the AJN Steelstock bimota rider was incredibly happy to be back to top three form:

“It’s so nice to be back on the podium. You forget how much you miss it until you’ve been off it for a long time. Past few rounds, you know - Cadwell, Assen, I was just kind of building the blocks again to, you know, get back to here”.

Donington was the scene of early major success for Cook, where he featured on the podium in all three races on the first visit, back in round two, as the number 30 explained:

“This weekend I was really confident ‘cause I knew how well we did here in round two, and it just took us a little bit of time to get going I think.

But today, the bike was unbelievably good. Straight from warm-up, felt really happy and yeah, unfortunately, you know, race 2 earlier just got a little bit caught up in a few incidents here and there”.

A front row start also added to Cook’s success, with less work to move forward allowing him to work on his race-craft:

“Starting from second was a massive thing for me really. I was able to just get my head down straight away, get the holeshot and just give it my all, really.

I’m not in the championship fight, I’ve got nothing to lose. So I just thought, I’m just going to go for it. I did the best that I could and Scott came by me and he just, you know, ate little tenths, you know, just kept creeping away from me and I just couldn’t hang on, I just didn’t have it in me today,”.

The final round at Brands Hatch is another reason for Cook to look to keep momentum, the first visit was also a success for the bimota rider as the only other round where he featured on the podium in all three races:

“Happy that I can come away from here with a trophy, smile on my face - all the team’s really happy and I feel like I did the best I can, so it’s good momentum now and we’re back and we go to Brands happy”.