Cook Wins Ben Fund Bonanza

NEWS Saturday 12th March 2016, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The opening night of the 2016 season was a success on a cold evening at King's Lynn but in one respect it's a case of continuing where we left off last season - Craig Cook is still majestic.

He won all his races to become the first rider to win the Ben Fund Bonanza twice (and he's only been in it twice) and it made no difference whether he made the gate or not. In the final he was only third down the back straight on the opening lap but he cut effortlessly past Rory Schlein and Bjarne Pedersen. His only concern was a slight wobble on the final bend which meant that Rory (who had a brilliant return from injury) came quite close at the end.

Craig had previously passed Steve Worrall in his third heat and looked as fast and focused as he has ever done. He's not riding for us this season of course but he's still our boy and we are going to enjoy following his progress.

There was some very good racing on the night and included in that were the junior heats. These youngsters are improving fast as they get closer to senior racing age and you have to look closely to be sure it is juniors and not seniors you are watching.

On a night to benefit injured riders there were unfortunately a few crashes. The kids had one or two tumbles, without major mishap it seems, but both Simon Stead and Krzysztof Kasprzak were ruled out of the meeting.

Simon was having a curious ride in heat 2. He locked up badly on the first bend of lap two, which meant that Josh Bates suddenly came alongside him and the pair collided. Stead went down heavily and the diagnosis is concussion.

Kasprzak looked determined to improve his UK record and had raced to the front in heat 9, but swung too wide and collected the fence. He fell awkwardly and his diagnosis is a broken collar bone, bad news for Coventry if confirmed.

Best of a number of good races was heat 12, a three-way scrap between Doyle, Lambert and Steve Worrall which went right to the wire. Pre-meeting favourite Doyle lacked his usual speed and didn't even make the semi.

Amongst riders we haven't mentioned, Kai Huckenbeck looked very much a rider to watch. He's a King's Lynn signing and he beat both Harris and Doyle.

But the most impressive rider by far was the deserved winner, and there won't be many amongst the Monarchs support who are surprised by that.