SWINDON teenager Max Cook has continued his preparations for the coming campaign with a two-week testing stint in southern Spain.

In 2017, 14-year-old Cook will be riding a new Wilson Racing Honda Moto3 in the Motostar class of the British Super Bike Championship.

Initially, Cook spent a week at the Circuit of Cartagena, near Murcia, with the main objective for the youngster to familiarise himself with the new bike and team, under the guidance of team principal Gary Wilson.

With a good team around him, including his mentor and coach Danny Webb, Cook immediately felt comfortable and got to grips with the new bike and achieved his target lap-time for the test inside two days.

Cook said: “I really enjoyed getting back on the bike again and I really enjoyed being back with Danny and working with Gary Wilson.

“I was impressed with the bike as it felt better than I expected. It’s given me a lot of confidence for this season, which has showed in the lap times on Saturday morning.

“The test was also fun as my team mates are good friends already and I can’t wait to spend time and work with them this season.

“I want to say thanks to all my sponsors too for helping me get to the test.

“Also thanks to Gary, Kita, Danny, Neil, Gareth and my dad for their support throughout testing and helping to make it a success. Now I’m looking forward to start of season.

“I’d also like to pay tribute to my old team manager at Replicast Racing, Gary Dawson, who passed away at the end of the test, which was really sad. He taught me a lot last year and without him I wouldn’t be where I am.”

In the second week, Cook travelled to Finestrat Circuit, near Benidorm, and continued his preparation by riding his Honda CRF150 Supermoto in the European Jr test, where he set the outright lap record for any bike at a junior test of 48.6 seconds.

Cook’s next test is at Donington Park on Wednesday before the first round of the British Super Bike Championship takes place a week later.