Max Cook scare at Thruxton: the Bimota rider's condition

The relief after the big scare: Max Cook is fine, and the dramatic impact against the barrier on Thruxton’s straight did not leave serious consequences. But the crash during Race 1 of the seventh round of the British Superbike had a sequence that, for endless moments, made everyone fear the worst.

The 23-year-old Brit has become one of the standout stars of the BSB aboard the Bimota Rimini KB998 of the AJN Steelstorock team. In the first Thruxton bout, however, he wasn’t as brilliant as usual and found himself battling Leon Haslam for fifth place. The leading group with Ryde, Skinner, Vickers, and Redding was a couple of seconds up the road, so the fight was still wide open. With three laps to go, Cook and Haslam crossed lines at Club, the final corner, and under full acceleration the Ducati of the former World Championship runner-up gained a small advantage. Cook, trying to latch onto the slipstream, tapped the rival’s bike with his front end and lost control.

The Bimota, at very high speed, immediately veered toward the outside of the track: the start-finish area at Thruxton isn’t a straight, but a very fast right-hand kink leading into the braking for Turn 1. The impact with the barrier was extremely violent, with an angle that made the worst seem possible, because the rider, together with the bike, also slammed hard into the obstacle. Cook lost consciousness, but fortunately came around almost immediately, raising his arm even before being loaded into the ambulance. The race was obviously red-flagged, with victory awarded to Kyle Ryde, who at that moment was leading the tightly packed group (race report here).

After a quick visit to the Thruxton medical center, Max Cook was transported to Southampton Hospital for more in-depth checks, which ruled out any consequences. Due to the loss of consciousness detected during the initial rescue, the Bimota rider was declared “unfit” for the remainder of the weekend. Therefore, following the same precautionary rule also used in the World Championships, he will not be able to start in Race 2 and Race 3. He will almost certainly be back on track in two weeks at Cadwell Park, the final act of the British Superbike regular season.

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