Anvil Hire TAG Racing’s Richard Cooper was fifth fastest in the second MCE British Superbike free practice session at Oulton Park yesterday, after a 1’36.328 - leaving him full of confidence for the weekend ahead.

It was an impressive outing for the Nottingham lad as he was able to out-pace more experienced BSB rider’s like Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari and GBmoto Kawasaki's Chris Walker.

The former Pirelli National Superstock 1000 champ felt that he was on the back foot after missing the official testing session at the track last week, but soon made up for that after the first session. His team didn’t make any major changes to his Kawasaki at the last round at Brands Hatch – but small improvements made a big difference yesterday.

“I was P7 in FP1 and we were able to make some changes which we didn’t really do at Brands, and changes we made to the bike in the second session gave me more confidence. Being  on a new tyre really helped too and the times came down really nicely,” said Cooper, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the track.

“A lot of the top guys did the test last week and I didn’t, so I felt we were a bit behind, but we worked hard and I feel we are up to speed with the bike and there’s a good vibe in the garage.

“Qualifying is still new to me, and it feels like a gamble when your doing it as you never really know if you have done enough, but I am pleased that I was fifth fastest in FP2 and that can only bode well for the final free practice session and ultimately qualifying in the afternoon.”