STROUD’S Dan Cooper raced to his maiden international podium at the Ulster Grand Prix, writes Phil Wain.

A productive weekend saw the 27-year-old builder finish third place in the Lightweight race as well as strong finishes in the 1000cc races too.

Held on the 7.4-mile Dundrod course on the outskirts of Belfast, conditions had been fine on Saturday until the Lightweight race came to the line, but having qualified in fourth place on the CMS/SB Tuning Kawasaki, hopes were high of a good result. A solid start saw Cooper maintain his fourth place, but he was held up by Christian Elkin at Leathemstown on the first lap and that allowed eventual winner Derek McGee and James Cowton to escape.

The former 125cc British Champion was also in fine form on the 1000cc Space Centre Self Storage Superstock- spec Honda and he opened his account for the week with 16th place and a lap in excess of 126mph.

He improved upon this in Saturday’s Superstock race with 13th and then completed his week with a good 14th in the feature seven-lap Superbike race, also improving his best ever lap around the course to 126.965mph.

The only downside to the week was a technical problem with his 600cc Honda during qualifying, which kept him out of Saturday’s two Supersport races. He also opted out of the final Superbike race, which was held after the Light - weight race with the rain continuing to fall.

“It’s been a good meeting for me and I’m naturally delighted with the podi - um in the Lightweight race, my first at an International road race.

“Having qualified on the front row I was confident of having a real good go and although the race was held in the wet, I still felt strong. Unfortunately, I got held up by Christian Elkin on the first lap and that allowed Derek and James to escape but I had a really good battle with Glenn for third. We were swapping places all the time but I man - aged to get the better of him with a cou - ple of corners to go to clinch third.

“It was hard work in the 1000cc rac - es as we’re giving away 15mph to the BMWs and Kawasakis and at such a high speed circuit like Dundrod, that makes it heavy going.

“I was happy with my riding though and the only Hondas ahead of me were the Padgetts machines and the official Honda Racing entry so I can’t com - plain. It was a shame we had problems with the 600 as this would probably have been my strongest class but these things happen."