DAN COOPER enjoyed a solid opening to his 2014 TT road racing campaign in the Isle of Man at the weekend, securing a top-20 finish in the opening Superbike race, writes Alannah Fellows.

Cooper, who also races in the British Supersport series, made a brisk start and was immediately in 20th position.

However, after a troublesome pit-stop, the former Cirencester Kingshill School pupil slipped down to 28th by the second lap. Producing a stunning display, Cooper was able to get back up into 20th position on the final lap, clocking a time 15 seconds faster than he had previously set.

Cooper said: "The last lap of the race was definitely the best bit and after the problems we had at the first pit-stop, it was good to fight my way back up the leaderboard.

"I was up to 18th at one stage of the race so to lose all that time was frustrating and meant I had to get back past the riders I'd overtaken on the first lap.

"We'd made some changes to the bike after the final practice session on Friday evening and it made the bike loads better and although I got held up a bit on the last lap with traffic, we've made good progress and have taken a good jump forward.

"I felt really comfortable in the closing stages and to make such a good improvement in my lap times bodes well for the other 1000cc races.

"Now I've got six laps under my belt, I know what the bike's going to do so if we can get the 600cc working a bit better; we should be set for some good results in the other races this week."