Image: Keith Muir.

There was never any denying the potential of Josh Hook back in the Yamaha Motor Finance Australasian Superbike Championship (ASBK) presented by Motul Pirelli, but few could’ve predicted his first race podium at Wakefield Park on Sunday.

With politics ending his attempt at forging a career in Europe last year, 24-year-old Hook decided only last Tuesday to compete in Goulburn’s second round of the 2017 season after borrowing an older generation Kawasaki from Phil Lovett.

Hook impressed in Q1 on Saturday by slotting the ZX-10R into third in the rain, but faded to 15th due to minimal dry track time during the clear afternoon’s second session. Things went his way in Sunday’s opening 20-lap encounter by opting for slicks on a quickly-drying surface and surging to the podium in third. Come race two in the dry, he pushed on to P11, for sixth overall.

“It definitely comes down to decision making, that one,” Hook reflected on his opening race performance. “Because I started so far back on the grid, I knew that in the dry I didn’t have the pace to run with the front guys under the circumstances we were dealt. I looked at the sky and it didn’t look too bad, so I went for the slick tyre change on the grid and it paid off.

“I was able to get into a rhythm and run my own race. I tried going with [Robbie] Bugden there and thought I could probably pass him, but with about 10 laps to go my brakes started fading a lot so that slowed me up a little bit and was disappointing because I would’ve liked to be a step higher on the podium, but anyway, that’s how it rolled.

“I’m happy for the weekend, the way it went, because I did get on the box there in the first race and I proved that I can still ride a motorbike here – that was the main thing. I came here and I got the job done, so I’m really happy about that.”

Hook’s current plan is to take part in the Winton test prior to round three of the season on 28-30 April, however he’s yet to decide if he will commit to racing under the same structure moving forward. The goal at the moment is to secure more of a competitive package with added support.

“I’d like to keep racing,” he stated on Sunday afternoon. “Unless something comes up elsewhere, I’ll definitely jump right to it. This is a last resort thing, just for me to keep racing a motorbike, because that’s what I want to do and what I enjoy doing – sitting at home’s not fun.

“By the looks of it, I’ll be going to the Winton test and, at this stage, it will be on this bike. We’ve got two days down there, so I’m going to try get somewhere with it and depending on how the test goes and how I’m feeling about it all – whether we can make good direction with the bike – then I’ll decide whether it’s worth racing.”