Anvil Hire Tag Racing’s Richard Cooper felt confident the moment he woke up this morning, after setting consistently fast lap times throughout the MCE British Superbike weekend at the Brands Hatch GP circuit. His good form came to fruition during the final race of the day when he clinched his first podium in the premier class.

Cooper finished second after beating PR Racing’s Keith Farmer to edge ahead to nab the second step on the rostrum. The rider was feeling confident in the wet with the knowledge that he was able to get into the top five.

Race one was also good for the Hucknell rider after he finished in a respectable 8th place at the Kent track, and even had to contend with a technical problem, but he managed to hold on to stay within the top ten.

“I knew I was in for a good day, as we have been in the top ten all weekend. In race one we finished 8th, albeit with quite a big mechanical problem and during the last five laps it slowed me down. But we solved that issue in the small break and then it rained,” said Cooper, speaking to bikesportnews.com from the track.

“I knew I could put a result together and I did think I coped with it quite well in the rain to win my first ever podium. The bike could have been better for the second race, but because I am so small we have to change the bike dramatically for the wet for me to be able to ride it and we didn’t have time to change the rear shock.

"So I knew we had a dry setting rear shock and a wet front. So when the track started to dry up a bit I was able to make up some time, and hopefully I will be able to get some more podium as and when they come."

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