SWINDON'S Max Cook now leads the British Superbikes rookies' championship after another solid weekend at Knockhill in Scotland.

Qualifying

In the first qualifying round, Cook came in as the second fastest driver before a red flag stopped the session with five minutes still to go. 

Following the restart, the more experienced riders went faster, but the 18-year-old was able to finish P5 and make it through to the second qualifying round.

In Q2, Cook wasn’t able to make up any places running with the top 18 drivers and finished in P18, but did well to finish just a quarter of a second slower than Jack Kennedy in P11.

READ MORE: Swindon's Max Cook one of British Superbikes' youngest-ever riders

Race One

In race one, it was an average first lap from the Wiltshire born driver who ended up stuck behind Peter Hickman and Danny Kent and was unable to nail a pass, with his best lap at 48.2 seconds.

Race Two

Cook started much better in race two, though. He made several passes in the first three-quarters of a lap and looked much more forceful in sector one. 

Unfortunately, when trail braking to the apex, his front trye simply couldn’t cope and he slid gracefully to the ground which put an end to his race.

Cook produced a full-on 30 laps for race three, and it was a much better showing from the 18-year-old.

Race Three

The third and final race appeared tricky for Cook, who had to start dead last in P22, due to not setting a lap time in the previous race.

Cook had a first lap to remember, though, where he quickly made up four places and found himself in P18 on the heels of Hickman. A smart overtake on Hickman and a crash from leader Jason O’Halloran saw him up to 16th.

After some more hard work from Cook, he was able to climb up the leaderboard to secure an impressive 14th placed finish at Knockhill.

The results mean Cook is now 20th in the Championship standings with 13 points, and he also now leads the standings in the Rookies Cup.