SWINDON’S Max Cook was plagued by an arm issue throughout his British Superbikes Championship debut at Silverstone last weekend.

The rookie was regularly suffering from arm-pump – a condition which causes pain in the forearm after prolonged or strenuous exercise – over the course of the weekend but battled on to achieve three 20th places in his first crack at the elite championship.

Although he missed out on points in the main competition, Cook secured 36 points in the rookie version which places him fourth after round one.

The pain in his arm began during the first free-practice session on Friday as Cook was hanging on too tightly around some of the high-speed corners. After adjustments and some physio for him, things improved in FP2.

Cook soldiered on during Saturday’s qualifying session and secured 22nd overall.

In the first point-scoring race of the year, things were looking bleak for the Swindon talent as his right arm was numb from arm-pump again, the loss of feel severely compromising his ability to brake hard from midway through.

Earlier in the race, Cook had made up places, battling with the other rookies, but finally came home in 20th and just four seconds from the points.

When he came back on Sunday, Cook warmed up well and enjoyed a sensible 11-lap stint with no issues ahead of the two 30-lap races.

The second race ended up being red-flagged with three laps to go after Danny Buchanan’s high-speed crash, leaving Cook in a familiar finishing position.

And in the final race of the weekend, Cook repeated his race-two heroics to bring home his FS3 Cheshire Mouldings ZX-10RR Kawasaki in 20th.

Cook’s team say they expect the Swindon rider to be closing the gap on those above him and fighting for top rookie honours once he has recovered from surgery, with the next opportunity to do so coming in a few weeks’ time at Oulton Park.