SWINDON rider Max Cook overcame an under-par opening day to pick up a race win and second place at round eight of the Hel Performance Motostar British Standard Class Championship at Cadwell Park.

Struggling with the twisty nature of the circuit, Cook was off-key on the opening practice day, ending third quickest, around 1.5 seconds off the pace of the fastest standard class rider.

In the following 25-minute qualifying session, he grew in confidence, securing first position in the standard category, and 12th on the combined grid overall, with a superb final lap of the session of 1min 35.950secs.

The first 12-lap race saw his rival, Victor Rodriguez, take the lead in the standard category as he shot past Cook on lap one along with about three GP class riders.

But on the penultimate lap, Cook overtook Rodriguez, with the lead changing hands three more times on the final lap before Cook secured victory at the chequered flag.

Cook made a good start to race two, but Rodriguez came under him at the end of the back straight before out-braking himself and running wide, enabling Cook to regain the lead.

With three laps left Cook set the fastest lap of the race (1:35.091) as he tried to chase down the race leader but, with the championship at the forefront of his mind, crossed the line second just 0.053 seconds behind Rodriguez.

Cook, whose lead in the championship is 105 points with seven races to go, said: “In race two I got a good start to the race but Victor got in front of me.

“Then I got stuck behind a GP rider which held me up. I went on the grass twice and don’t know how I didn’t crash.

“I got back to Victor but it was difficult to pass. So I thought about the championship and 20 points were better than one race win.”

The next round is at Silverstone on September 8-10.