By Phil Wain

DAN COOPER stepped on the gas at Oliver’s Mount with a string of excellent performances in Scarborough.

He opened his account with a solid ninth on the Ruby Racing Triumph in the Supersport 600cc race but the next race, the opening leg of the Lee Pullan Trophy saw him excel.

Riding the CMS/SB Tuning ER6 650cc Kawasaki, the 27-year-old took a brilliant second place behind Ivan Lintin and ahead of riders with vastly more experience around the 2.43-mile public road circuit.

Second was again the outcome in the North B final, where he just missed out on the win by 0.639s on the Triumph.

Meanwhile, the Gold Cup race saw the majority of riders mounted on Superbikes.

Tenth place was the outcome, but Cooper was the third Supersport machine past the flag and was only just behind fellow 600cc rider William Dunlop at the chequered flag.

Continuing on the Supersport machine, Cooper took eighth in the second 600cc race, where he also set his fastest lap of the weekend, and his final ride of the two days came in the second Lee Pullan Trophy race.

For the majority of the eight laps he battled with Lintin and James Cowton for the win and although they eventually edged clear, Cooper took an excellent third place for his third podium finish of the weekend to wrap up an excellent debut.

Cooper said: "I've been hoping to ride at Scarborough for some time so I was delighted to finally get there for the Gold Cup and I really, really enjoyed myself.

"I picked up the circuit pretty quickly and liked it straightaway, the only bit that I struggled a bit with was the final Farms Bends section but I'm sure that will come.

"The races themselves went pretty well and I was able to run with riders who've a lot more experience around Oliver's Mount than me so it was very pleasing to get the results I did.

"We tried a new electronics package on the Triumph and had a few teething problems so whilst my lap times were competitive, I'm sure I could have gone even quicker had it not been for that but we were improving it all weekend so I'm happy enough.

"The Twin races were very enjoyable too and to run so close to Ivan and James on my first visit showed what I was capable of and I'm very much looking forward to returning in 2016.

"It was great to see such a big crowd supporting the event and a massive thank you to Space Centre Self Storage, Ruby Scaffolding Services, CMS, SB Tuning, Chalky's Workshop, IMS, Paul Flight, TTR Racing, AAE Installations, Fuchs Silkolene, GB Racing, Quicksign, Samco Sport, Knox and Daytona Boots."