Max Cook Motostar Knockhill 2017
Photo: Hairy Beast Pix

A cool wind met the riders of the Hel Performance Motostar British Championship at Knockhill on Friday. The 1.3 mile circuit with its famous left-hand blind corner known as Duffus Dip was hosting round four of the Moto3 championship.

Max Cook went into the weekend having won all five of the championship races this year. However, this track proved less straightforward for the 14-year-old. At the end of the twenty minute session he was third quickest in the standard class. After a six week gap between races team-mate Charlie Atkins struggled to find his rhythm early on and finished in seventh place.

In the afternoon there was light rain at the circuit in Fife. The second free practice session saw most riders opting for safety, and clearly lap times didn’t improve.

The Saturday was a quiet day for the Moto3 riders, with just the qualifying session, as both races were held on the Sunday. Max Cook managed to drop his lap time further during qualifying although he remained third. Charlie Atkins was able to reduce his lap time by over a second and moved up from seventh on Friday to fifth on the grid. It was his best qualifying result of the season.

Race One

There were two races on the Sunday. Race one was 16 laps. With the starting grid made up of both Moto3 GP and standard class bikes Cook started 21st whilst the fastest standard class rider started 16th. However, within a lap Cook had managed to make the gap and was tucked in just behind Rodriguez who headed the class. On lap four Cook made his move for the lead. Rodriguez gave Cook a good battle but the Wilson Racing rider crossed the finish line 0.6 seconds ahead to take a sixth victory of the season.

Charlie Atkins enjoyed a good battle with Jack Scott throughout most of the race. Whilst he wasn’t able to get the better of him he finished a fantastic fourth, his best race finish this season.

Race Two

Motostar Knockhill 2017 Charlie Atkins
Photo: Hairy Beast Pix

The grid positions for the 22 lap race two were determined by the fastest laps in race one. This meant that Cook started as the best standard class rider in 17th and Atkins 22nd.

Cook made a solid start but within a few laps he got caught up in the aftermath of an accident. He dropped back to third but by lap ten was back at the front of the race. From there he slowly pulled away from Rodriguez again to take his second win of the weekend.

Charlie Atkins continued his fine weekend too. He made a solid start and fought off a late challenge from Ross Turner to claim fifth place at the finish.

Gary Wilson said,”The boys were great all weekend. Two more wins for Max and Charlie had his best weekend of the season too! Max is now leading the championship by 66 points. Charlie is ninth and his points this weekend mean he is only four points from sixth.”

The next race is at Snetterton in two weeks time.

Leave a Reply