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Max Cook revels in “mega” Bimota performance after topping Donington BSB test
Max Cook says he is “blown away” by his experience so far with the Bimota BSB bike.
Bimota enters BSB this year as the championship’s newest manufacturer with the FS-3 team, and things started well at the first official 2026 test with Max Cook ending the two days fastest overall.
Not only was Cook fastest at the end of the test, but he was fastest by a distance – almost 0.3 seconds clear of Danny Kent in second on the Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha.
It was the first time the Bimota KB998 had been in action at an official BSB test, but the bike is familiar to racing by now having competed in World Superbike since the beginning of 2025. Indeed, there are elements of cohesion between the WorldSBK project and the AJN Steelstock Bimota team in BSB that was highlighted at Donington, where former WorldSBK crew chief Marcel Duinker was present as well as factory rider Alex Lowes.
The support as well as the bike impressed Cook, who was able to set his best ever lap time at Donington on the second day of the test despite windy conditions.
“It was pretty good, to be fair,” Cook told Crash.net.
“The bike’s a mega bike, it does what I want it to do, feels like a race bike.
“The full support, we’ve got the entire package – the guys from World Superbike are here helping us along with it all. So, I’m just really blown away by the whole thing.
“I think to [set a personal best lap time] at Donington on a windy day like today [Saturday] – I’m well happy.”
He added: “Everything that’s new at World Superbike, what they develop and find that’s better, will be coming to us straight away.
“So, […] it’s only going to get better from here.”
Speaking more about the bike itself and its characteristics, Cook said that the chassis is so stiff that you have to push to get any kind of feedback from it, and that it has given him more confidence in braking than the Kawasaki he rode until the end of last season in BSB.
“There’s no complaints from me or the bike,” he said. “It only works when you’re kind of pushing it as hard as you can, that’s when you start to get feel from it because it is so stiff.
“Overall it is a really nice package.”
He added: “My weakness has been heavy on the brakes, but this bike has allowed me to really pull that front brake lever and get as late as I can on the brakes.
“Just a bit of a weak point in that sense, but that’s from my side – the bike is very good on the brakes.
“So, I’ve ticked a box in that, I’ve improved that, it’s been a target and that’s what I can work on.”
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Max Cook says he is “blown away” by his experience so far with the Bimota BSB bike.
Bimota enters BSB this year as the championship’s newest manufacturer with the FS-3 team, and things started well at the first official 2026 test with Max Cook ending the two days fastest overall.
Not only was Cook fastest at the end of the test, but he was fastest by a distance – almost 0.3 seconds clear of Danny Kent in second on the Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha.
It was the first time the Bimota KB998 had been in action at an official BSB test, but the bike is familiar to racing by now having competed in World Superbike since the beginning of 2025. Indeed, there are elements of cohesion between the WorldSBK project and the AJN Steelstock Bimota team in BSB that was highlighted at Donington, where former WorldSBK crew chief Marcel Duinker was present as well as factory rider Alex Lowes.
The support as well as the bike impressed Cook, who was able to set his best ever lap time at Donington on the second day of the test despite windy conditions.
“It was pretty good, to be fair,” Cook told Crash.net.
“The bike’s a mega bike, it does what I want it to do, feels like a race bike.
“The full support, we’ve got the entire package – the guys from World Superbike are here helping us along with it all. So, I’m just really blown away by the whole thing.
“I think to [set a personal best lap time] at Donington on a windy day like today [Saturday] – I’m well happy.”
He added: “Everything that’s new at World Superbike, what they develop and find that’s better, will be coming to us straight away.
“So, […] it’s only going to get better from here.”
Speaking more about the bike itself and its characteristics, Cook said that the chassis is so stiff that you have to push to get any kind of feedback from it, and that it has given him more confidence in braking than the Kawasaki he rode until the end of last season in BSB.
“There’s no complaints from me or the bike,” he said. “It only works when you’re kind of pushing it as hard as you can, that’s when you start to get feel from it because it is so stiff.
“Overall it is a really nice package.”
He added: “My weakness has been heavy on the brakes, but this bike has allowed me to really pull that front brake lever and get as late as I can on the brakes.
“Just a bit of a weak point in that sense, but that’s from my side – the bike is very good on the brakes.
“So, I’ve ticked a box in that, I’ve improved that, it’s been a target and that’s what I can work on.”
Bimota enters BSB this year as the championship’s newest manufacturer with the FS-3 team, and things started well at the first official 2026 test with Max Cook ending the two days fastest overall.
Not only was Cook fastest at the end of the test, but he was fastest by a distance – almost 0.3 seconds clear of Danny Kent in second on the Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha.
It was the first time the Bimota KB998 had been in action at an official BSB test, but the bike is familiar to racing by now having competed in World Superbike since the beginning of 2025. Indeed, there are elements of cohesion between the WorldSBK project and the AJN Steelstock Bimota team in BSB that was highlighted at Donington, where former WorldSBK crew chief Marcel Duinker was present as well as factory rider Alex Lowes.
The support as well as the bike impressed Cook, who was able to set his best ever lap time at Donington on the second day of the test despite windy conditions.
“It was pretty good, to be fair,” Cook told Crash.net.
“The bike’s a mega bike, it does what I want it to do, feels like a race bike.
“The full support, we’ve got the entire package – the guys from World Superbike are here helping us along with it all. So, I’m just really blown away by the whole thing.
“I think to [set a personal best lap time] at Donington on a windy day like today [Saturday] – I’m well happy.”
He added: “Everything that’s new at World Superbike, what they develop and find that’s better, will be coming to us straight away.
“So, […] it’s only going to get better from here.”
Speaking more about the bike itself and its characteristics, Cook said that the chassis is so stiff that you have to push to get any kind of feedback from it, and that it has given him more confidence in braking than the Kawasaki he rode until the end of last season in BSB.
“There’s no complaints from me or the bike,” he said. “It only works when you’re kind of pushing it as hard as you can, that’s when you start to get feel from it because it is so stiff.
“Overall it is a really nice package.”
He added: “My weakness has been heavy on the brakes, but this bike has allowed me to really pull that front brake lever and get as late as I can on the brakes.
“Just a bit of a weak point in that sense, but that’s from my side – the bike is very good on the brakes.
“So, I’ve ticked a box in that, I’ve improved that, it’s been a target and that’s what I can work on.”
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