CRAIG Cook (pictured) is five rides away from qualifying for the 2018 Grand Prix.
The Great Britain skipper is through to the GP Challenge in Russia in August after winning the GP qualifying semi-final at Terenzano on Saturday. Cook raced to 13 points in Italy to top the podium ahead of Vaclav Milik and Matej Zagar and stamp his ticket to the Challenge in Togliatti in August. Cook said. "I'm delighted. I didn't really know what to expect, especially with it probably being the tougher of the two semi-finals. "I'm just taking it one step at a time and this is another step out of the way. I'm five races away from being a Grand Prix rider, so I'm really pleased with the result. "Anything is possible now. I'm confident and enjoying my speedway, but at the same time I know things can change pretty quickly. "I won't get too excited, I'll save that for if I qualify in Togliatti, but I'm pleased to get through to the Grand Prix Challenge and I'm already looking forward to trying to make that top three." Current World Championship leader Patryk Dudek had to win a run-off against Denmark's Michael Jepsen Jensen to snatch the seventh and final qualifying berth.
THERE was no joy for Britain's other representative in the semi-finals, Chris Harris, who went out at Olching on Thursday after scoring seven points. Denmark's Leon Madsen raced to a 15-point maximum to win the round in Germany, where former GP stars Kenneth Bjerre and Hans Andersen both missed the cut, Bjerre losing a three-man run-off to Kai Huckenbeck and Mateusz Szczepaniak.
GP SEMI-FINAL 1 OLCHING, GERMANY THURSDAY, JUNE 15 Scorers: Leon Madsen 15, Piotr Pawlicki 14, Martin Smolinski 10, Adrian Miedzinski 10, Martin Vaculik 10 (after run-off), Kai Huckenbeck 8, Mateusz Szczepaniak 8, Kenneth Bjerre 8 (after run-off), Chris Harris 7, Peter Ljung 6, Hans Andersen 6, Oliver Berntzon 5, Mikkel Michelsen 4, Maksims Bogdanovs 4, Kjastas Puodzuks 3, Andriy Karpov 2.
GP SEMI-FINAL 2 TERENZANO, ITALY SATURDAY, JUNE 17 Scorers: Craig Cook 13, Vaclav Milik 12, Matej Zagar 10, Przemyslaw Pawlicki 10 (after run-off), Peter Kildemand 9, Max Fricke 9, Patryk Dudek 8 (all qualify for GP Challenge), Michael Jepsen Jensen 8, Linus Sundstrom 7, Kevin Wolbert 7, Jurica Pavlic 7, Grigory Laguta 6, Pontus Aspgren 5, Dany Gappmaier 5, Paco Castagna 2 (reserve), Matej Kus 1, Daniele Tessari 1 (reserve), Guglielmo Franchetti 0.