West Cumbrian star Craig Cook was happy to blow off the cobwebs with a trophy ahead of Workington Comets’ home and away Knockout Cup ties against Newcastle Diamonds this weekend.

Champion Cook won all five of his rides on his first meeting back at Derwent Park since rejoining Comets in December to take the Cumberland Open title on Saturday.

He said: “It was nice to get that first meeting out of the way.

“The track was a little bit tricky but five wins was just what I needed. There were some tough competitors in the line-up.

“Some of the boys looked really good and I was quite impressed with Ty Proctor. He was making good starts and looked good after so long away.

“In a way it’s not a surprise because I’ve seen him in full flow and he’s rather special when he gets going.”

The Cleator racer started strongly in former Comet Simon Lambert’s testimonial meeting at King’s Lynn the following day before tailing off as he tinkered with his bike and Cook admitted he is still searching for his perfect setup.

“I just kind of went the wrong way with the setups and the track got away from me,” he added.

“They were watering the track so often that it was changing dramatically.

“We’re getting somewhere and we’re learning all the time. We’ve got an engine tuner now that, if we ask him to change it a little bit, does it exactly how we want it.

“We’re sort of happy but there’s still work to be done.

“There isn’t much chance for testing before the league starts, so we’ve got to make the most of the coming races because the league gets going quite quickly.”

Cook was also full of praise for the bumper crowd at the Cumberland Open and hopes to give fans plenty more to cheer about over the course of the season.

“I think it was one of the best crowds we’ve had for a while, close to last year’s best,” he said.

“Hopefully, we can get the fans back in their thousands like they used to be because I want Workington to succeed.

“I’m passionate about my racing but I’m just as passionate about the club.

“I can’t thank the fans enough for coming down and, hopefully, they’ll bring their friends next weekend.”