Paul DeCouto continued his fine early season form on the 2012 Championship Cup Series (CCS) circuit in the United States at the weekend.The 42-year-old expert motorcycle racer bounced back from a recent ankle and shoulder injury to chalk up an amazing seven podium finishes at the CCS Southeast & Mid-Atlantic Championship Series at Carolina Motorsports Park.DeCouto managed a first, five seconds and a third competing in four separate classes in South Carolina on his modified 2011 Suzuki GSX-R 1000.It was the second this season the Formula Expert 40 Class national champion has managed five or more podium finishes competing at this level.His win, the second of the season, arrived in the second race in the Expert Unlimited GP.DeCouto, who was accompanied in South Carolina by father and crew chief Ernest, summed up the past weekend as a resounding success.“All in all it was an awesome weekend, seven podium finishes out of eight races,” he said. “It was another exceptionally great weekend because I got to race with some top notch racers, had lots of fun representing my country and finished uninjured.“There were a lot of fast pro racers here and I am learning a lot.”Had it not been for a disqualification in the second race in the Expert Unlimited Supersport Class, the Bermudian motorcycle racer might have come away with another podium display.DeCouto was leading the race when his fortunes took a turn for the worse after a rival crashed.“I had battled the expert field and was in second place charging for the first place, AMA pro Reece Wacker,” he said. “But Reece crashed right in front of me in turn 14 and I took over the lead.“I was now in first place storming for turn one when out comes the red flag, so we all went back to pit lane to get instructions from the officials who said they were going to restart the race.“Usually when there is a red flag they send you off pit lane and back to your pit, so I headed back to my pit. I just stopped at my pit area for a minute and headed back to pit lane because I didn’t see any other riders following me. But when I got back an official told me I was disqualified because I had left pit lane without being told to do so. I won’t make that mistake again.”DeCouto has managed 14 podium finishes so far this season, with his other win arriving in the Formula 40 Expert Class at last February’s CCS season-opener at Homestead Miami Speedway.The Cycle Care co-owner’s next race will be at next month’s Road America Festival of Speed in Wisconsin.