PHR's Richard Cooper rides to double victory at Knockhill
Richard Cooper rode to a double win in round four of the Pirelli National Sport Bike championship at Knockhill in Scotland at the weekend to move within half a point of the championship lead for the Louth-based PHR Performance team.
Cooper said: “I took full advantage of the conditions here at Knockhill to secure two wins as I know we play catch up in the dry to the championship leader.
“The PHR Performance boys have done a fantastic job, and what better day to do the double than Father's Day?”
The weather in Scotland was atrocious with heavy rain soaking the circuit but Cooper, aboard the PHR Performance by Peter Hickman Racing Triumph, loves wet weather racing and qualified for a start from the middle of the front row to Saturday's opening race.
Despite the wet weather hampering the riders it was dry and sunny for the start of the race, and Cooper settled into second place behind championship leader Edoardo Colombi where he remained through the first six laps.
But then the rain returned and the race was red-flagged as a thunderstorm right overhead left the riders scurrying back into the pits to sit it out for over two hours.
Finally the race was restarted and an eight lap dash to the flag saw Cooper get the hole shot and increase his lead throughout the eight lap affair.
He crossed the finish line for his first win of the current campaign with a huge advantage of 8.578s over Harrison Dessoy while Colombi could only manage a fourth place.
Sunday was again very wet which fell nicely into Cooper’s hands.
He started from pole position and swept into the lead at the first corner.
He began to stretch his lead from the rest of the field and went on to cross the finish line for his second win of the weekend with an advantage of 7.084s over Colombi.
The points accrued at Knockhill see Cooper edge to within half a point of the championship lead with the next round at Snetterton in Norfolk over the weekend of July 5th-7th.
However, it was a weekend to forget for PHR Performance boss Peter Hickman as he broke down in his first race and then missed the rest of the meeting with a sickness bug that affected several competitors over the weekend.