SWINDON racer Max Cook secured a podium finish at round three of the British Talent Cup at Snetterton, although a last-lap crash in the second race cost him a double points scoring weekend.

The results see Cook drop to fourth in the championship, 33 points behind leader Thomas Strudwick, although there is plenty of time to make up that deficit in the final six races.

Cook said: “Race One was the highlight of my weekend as it was really good to be battling for the lead at lap record pace.

“I went for a last-lap, last-corner overtake, but was just beaten to the line, which I was a little bit annoyed about, but I knew I could learn from my mistakes and improve for Race Two.

“I was feeling really confident for Race Two, but I pushed a bit too hard and crashed.

"I felt like the championship just slipped out my fingers but I spoke my coach and he was still happy with me and my performance and it made me feel a lot better.

"I’m looking forward to the next round and I will take it race by race.”

After tuning up in free practice, Cook excelled in qualifying and his 2min 2.8secs clocking put him second on the grid for both races.

Cook got his trademark good start to the first race and led into the first corner before he and Rory Skinner began to pull away at the front.

With the two locked in battle, it gave the chasing pack the opportunity to catch up and it was soon a three-way fight for the win.

Cook gambled for an overtake on the final lap, but his exit speed was high and he had to muscle the bike on the exit and was unable to defend the correct line to the chequered flag, allowing Skinner to take the win by just 0.04 seconds.

After losing by the smallest of margins, Cook was fired up for the second race as he again lined up on the front row of the grid.

When the lights went out, Cook got another superb start and soon managed to pull clear of second place.

However, his race came to an abrupt end as a cold tyre caused Cook to lose the front end and crash, with his bike too badly damaged to re-join the race.

The championship resumes at Silverstone on August 24-26.