Craig Cook has got the Championship title and Derwent Park’s track record on his Christmas list after re-signing for Workington Comets.

The Cleator speedway ace is back after six years away from his local side and is eager to make up for lost time with the club’s first ever league title.

“I feel like I went a little bit stale last year and hit a bit of a plateau but I know I’m capable of so much more,” he said.

“I want to become the rider I can be and help Workington to some trophies.

“Workington have never won the league and I’ve won it a couple of times so to help get them to the top would mean the world to me.”

Comets had spoken to Cook last winter before the 29-year-old decided to test himself with a Polish club and he admitted the season had not gone as he had hoped.

He said: “I had a lot of problems last year, struggling out of the gates everywhere I went.

“We’ve been putting a lot of effort in in the garage, figuring out what’s going wrong and I’m currently in training and on with losing a stone and a half for the coming season.”

Club owner Laura Morgan admitted last week she felt the star should never have left Workington, but Cook believes the move made him a more complete rider and ultimately proved to be the right call.

“The break away has done me good and I’m coming back a better rider,” he said. “I think it made me someone who could ride more technical tracks and gave me the chance to become the rider I could be.

“Obviously I had experience of the bigger tracks like Workington and there and Edinburgh are like chalk and cheese.

“I didn’t ever want to leave Workington with it being my home track but at the end of the day it’s been for the best.

“There’s nothing makes me more proud than riding for Workington so I’m over the moon to be back.”

Cook also has Richard Lawson’s track record of 61.7 seconds in his sights after coming close to smashing it on his last visit to Derwent Park.

“I think I was 0.1 off it last year,” he said. “The track was slick and I wasn’t on my fastest engine but we’ve got a couple of new ones coming this year.”

Despite his difficult year, missing out on the play-offs with Peterborough and losing the Elite League play-offs final with Belle Vue, Cook is not short of confidence in his ability and hopes to prove he is still the league’s undisputed No1 in 2017.

He said: “I know that I’m the fastest in the league. I’m not out there to score 13s or 14s, I want maximums every week.

“You just never know what’s going to happen, speedway is a funny game.

“In 2014 everybody wrote Edinburgh off and we only lost three matches all year.

“I believe we can win this league but it’s all down to how much we want it.”