Cumbrian-racer Craig Cook took on the world's best for the fourth time in his career at Cardiffs Principality Stadium when the rode as the wild card in this year's British Speedway Grand Prix. <\/p>\n
However, despite battling performances from the Workington Comets skipper in every outing, his final tally of two points did not reflect the effort that he put in both on and off track, and left him disappointed with his nights work in what was a keenly-contested meeting that was eventually won by Polands Maciej Janowski. <\/p>\n
Things got off to the worst possible start for Cook when, in his opening ride (heat 3), he charged through the tapes from the inside starting position on an evening where several riders either broke the starting tapes or were officially warned for starting infringements. <\/p>\n
His second outing, in heat 6, saw him pick up his first point of the evening when, having been locked in a battle with Polands Piotr Pawlicki for third place, the Pole hit a rut on the fourth bend of the third lap, throwing him off-line and allowing Cook through to secure the third place point. <\/p>\n
When Cook next took to the track in heat 12 he faced two riders that would ultimately reach the Grand Final: Polands Bartosz Zmarzlik and Slovenias Matej Zagar. <\/p>\n
Cook led out of the second turn before Zmarzlik rounded him as they entered turn three. Then, at the end of lap two, Zagar forced his way under Cook to relegate him to third place as he picked up his second point. <\/p>\n
It was heat 15 when Cook next took to the track and he played a major part in one of the best races of the night as he mixed it with Russian star Emil Sayfutdinov and his former Comets team-mate Peter Kildemand for the first three laps. However, on turn two of the final lap, Kildemand cut across Cook, who had to take evasive action, meaning he lost his momentum. <\/p>\n
With all chance of qualification for the semi-final stage now gone, Cook lined up for his final ride against Britains two-time world champion Tai Woffinden and joint world championship leaders Jason Doyle and Patryk Dudek. <\/p>\n
Doyle won the race from Dudek, with Woffinden third and Cook last. <\/p>\n
With no home riders making the semi-finals, Zmarzlik and Doyle qualified for the Grand Final along with Janowski and Zagar. <\/p>\n
In the final it was Janowski that led throughout with Doyle pressing him for all four laps, while behind them Zmarzlik looked set for third place before a final lap engine failure handed Zagar the last step on the podium. <\/p>\n
With riders taking points from each other all night that second place finish was enough to push Doyle three points clear at the top of the overall championship standings, although with the Cardiff GP only being the half-way point in the 12-round series that slender lead is of no real consequence at this stage. <\/p>\n
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Plenty of effort from Workington Comets ace at British Speedway ... - News & Star<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cumbrian-racer Craig Cook took on the world's best for the fourth time in his career at Cardiffs Principality Stadium when the rode as the wild card in this year's British Speedway Grand Prix. However, despite battling performances from the Workington Comets skipper in every outing, his final tally of two points did not reflect the effort that he put in both on and off track, and left him disappointed with his nights work in what was a keenly-contested meeting that was eventually won by Polands Maciej Janowski. Things got off to the worst possible start for Cook when, in his opening ride (heat 3), he charged through the tapes from the inside starting position on an evening where several riders either broke the starting tapes or were officially warned for starting infringements. Continue reading