COOK WINS BEN FUND BONANZA

NEWS Sunday 9th March 2014, 6:23pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Scotwaste Monarchs' no. 1 Craig Cook got his season off to a brilliant start at Leicester today by winning the sixth staging of the Ben Fund Bonanza individual event, top scoring for Team GB, and surviving a nasty-looking crash in the final race of the Bonanza.

On a bright sunny day the stadium was jam-packed with a tremendous crowd which will have suitably boosted the Benevolent Fund. The start was slightly delayed but the meeting was run through at a decent pace.

In the team event, Alun Rossiter's Team GB held the lead from the second race. The Rest of the World side made good use of in-form reserve Nick Morris to keep the scores close, but the home side ran out 45-39 winners in the 14 heat team event.

Craig Cook looked probably the best-prepared and most determined rider on show. He stormed away with heat 3 and it was surprising that the time for this race wasn't faster.

Cameron Woodward briefly showed ahead of Craig in heat 6, but Cook was round him on the fourth bend to win.

In heat 9 Bjarne Pedersen led early on but this time Craig drilled under him going into the third corner for another win.

He finally dropped a point in heat 12 when Morris got away for the second of his three wins. The pair clashed on the first turn of the first running with Craig coming off, but it was all four back.

Tai Woffinden was next best for the British with 10 points while Harris, King and Lawson also had race wins.

The individual event followed the international, with Craig this time having to pass Kyle Howarth to win heat 4. Gate one was not the best and Craig was the only winner from there, with Woffinden, Pedersen and Harris all missing out in their heats.

In the final Craig did make the start from gate 2, but he had Morris on his tail right to the last bend. Morris tried a dive going into the turn but he lifted and both riders came down against the air fence.

Thankfully there were no injuries to report but Craig's bike was fairly badly damaged. That was a poor reward for his efforts on a day when the riders were giving their services for their injured colleagues, so Craig was slightly deflated at the end.

"it was a good start but I'm disappointed with the bike damage. I found the track good early on but I did struggle a bit when it got slicker."

Nevertheless he impressed team boss Rossiter who felt he had established a good rapport with the Monarchs' no. 1. Craig is surely a Great Britain regular for all competitions from now on.