Cal Cooper, riding the PacedayZ.com Yamaha, endured a frustrating BSB Supersport debut at Brands Hatch over Easter.

After notching an excellent 7th place from ninth on the grid in very wet conditions in Sunday’s sprint race, the 17 year old Manx Sport Aid recipient from Ramsey was up against in the main feature race on Monday.

After his newly fettled race engine blew apart in Friday’s test session, Cooper was forced to use a stock engine rather than risk wrecking a ‘tired’ back-up race unit.

The outcome was a decidedly underpowered and uneven struggle against some of the best riders around in the 20-lap televised showdown.

From eighth on the grid - placings are set on best lap times from the sprint event - Cooper was quickly swamped as factory Triumph riders Billy McConnell (Australia) and Graeme Gowland along with winner Alistair Seeley hit the front.

Cooper ultimately finished one place out of the points in 16th after riding strongly throughout the race.

Said Cooper:  ‘It was very frustrating.  I’d get passed and then try and go with whoever came by but I just couldn’t hang in there. They would just pull away.’

Cooper, who is also backed by Paul Dedman Performance of Ramsey, was ninth in the sole and extremely wet qualification session, just 0.777 behind sprint race winner Glenn Irwin but ahead of the likes of race two winner Seeley.