CAL Cooper made an impressive start to his 450 British motorcycle racing championship campaign by taking three podium places at Brands Hatch over the weekend.
The 15 year old from St Jude’s notched a second, two thirds and a fourth in the Aprilia RRV450 series, ending the meeting third overall after two rounds.
A Manx Sport Aid Duke Bursary recipient, Cooper was quickly into his stride on the JDF Racing-prepared Italian V-twin on the 1.3-mile Indy circuit, securing third place after a titanic struggle in very testing conditions that made the choice between using wet or dry tyres very difficult.
In the drier second race, Cooper again featured in a hotly contested encounter, taking fourth with just .5 of a second covering the first five home.
Sunday’s conditions were vile, with driving rain flooding the track and the temperature plummeting to just above freezing.
Cooper warmed up by riding the Supertwins/Minitwins and F400 opener, taking a quality third place after having to start at the rear of the 30-rider grid, his progress through the field being meteoric - just another few yards would have seen him take second place.
In the first RRV450 race of round two Cooper, who was second on grid just three thousands of a second off pole after setting the second best lap on Saturday, hit the front on lap four of 12 and held on until two to go when he wisely settled for staying on the Aprila rather than parting company with it during an epic struggle with two others.
Cooper was second all the way in the final encounter of the weekend, testing the race winner repeatedly without over doing things but nevertheless setting the fastest lap of the race.
-ENDS-
