COOK: NOW FOR THE FINAL

Great Britain star Craig Cook has his sights set on an FIM Speedway Grand Prix final after storming into his first semi in Cardiff last Saturday.

The Cumbrian has the chance to book his place in SGP 2019 tonight when he lines up in the GP Challenge at German track Landshut.

It would hand Cook a golden opportunity to continue his SGP development, which picked up pace when he doubled his points tally for the season with a nine-point haul at the Adrian Flux British SGP.

Despite a last place in his opener, Cook reeled off three sensational starts for three huge wins, before a heavy crash in his final ride rendered him unable to perform at his best in the semi.

But it was still a successful night for the Belle Vue and Glasgow man. He said: “It would have been nice to do more, but for me, it’s about the progression we made. That means the most.

“The next step is to make the final or score more than nine points. We’re looking towards doing that.

“I’m going to Malilla now – I have never been there before. It’s a couple of weeks away, so I’ll keep making progress and see if I can mix it up again.”

Cook was elated with the starts that saw him leave the world’s top riders trailing in Cardiff. “I went to Trap City!” he smiled. “That was some unbelievable gating there. I showed glimpses of Craig Cook from a couple of years ago.

“I’ve had a lot of doubters and I just want to show people it’s still there in me. I’ve been lacking confidence.

“It wasn’t me struggling in the last one. We broke the other bike in practice. I dropped the clutch and it was broken. So I didn’t really have a bike for the semi unfortunately. It is what it is.”

Finding the right machinery has been Cook’s biggest battle so far this year. But he was delighted with the motor supplied by multi-time world title and Cardiff-winning tuner Peter Johns.

He said: “I haven’t had any confidence in my equipment and I have made no secret of it.

“I went back to Johnsy and got a new motor for last weekend. I loved it. It was fantastic from the start and very nice to ride.

“A lot of engine tuners make good, fast engines, but Peter’s are works of art. So much craftsmanship and engineering goes into them. He is a quality engineer and you don’t just lose it. A few people have jumped ship, but his motors have worked better for me and the proof was in the pudding.”

As well as some PJR power, Cook heads to Landshut tonight with some local expertise as he also has an engine tuned by Bert van Essen.

Cook, who won the SGP qualification semi-final at Abensberg in May, said: “Bert built me an engine for Germany last time. We’re doing something a little different so it will be better from the start.

“He’s known for longtrack engines, but he is a very good machinist and engineer. I’m also working with him.

“I’ll take my good engine from Cardiff – one I made some points on – and use the one from Bert. We’ll see how we go then.”

GP CHALLENGE LINE-UP: 1 Vaclav Milik, 2 Antonio Lindback, 3 Robert Lambert, 4 Niels-Kristian Iversen, 5 Martin Smolinski, 6 David Bellego, 7 Kenneth Bjerre, 8 Craig Cook, 9 Krzysztof Kasprzak, 10 Hans Andersen, 11 Piotr Pawlicki, 12 Max Fricke, 13 Kevin Wolbert, 14 Janusz Kolodziej, 15 Matej Zagar, 16 Jack Holder, 17 Valentin Grobauer, 18 Max Dilger.