MAX Cook enjoyed a perfect start to the new HEL MotoStar Standard Moto3 Championship season at Donnington Park.

After a great qualifying session, Cook lined up in the fifth row and was quick out of the blocks as he maintained his position throughout the opening lap.

The majority of riders immediately behind the Swindon youngster were in the ‘open class’ and on faster machinery, so he spent most of the race defending his line to maintain his faster corner speed to protect his position.

He fought hard and the strategy worked and Cook was able to consistently lap 0.5 seconds faster than his nearest standard class rival for the win.

Cook moved down to 15th on the grid for race two due to his impressive lap times.

As he was now surrounded by ‘open’ class bikes and alongside his standard class rivals, the team worked on a different strategy to help him win the race. Cook controlled his race perfectly and on the last lap, comfortably moved into the Standard class lead at Coppice and led to the chequered flag to take his 2nd win of the weekend.

The youngster said: “I’m so happy with how the weekend went. I’ve been really enjoying riding the Wilson Racing Moto3 pre-season and I couldn’t wait to start racing. I wanted to have a strong start to the season, but I didn’t expect it to go this well, it’s been almost perfect.”