Redcar Bears 42 Workington Comets 48: Craig Cook inspired Workington Comets as they swept to their first away win of the season with a 48-42 success at Redcar.

Cook began and finished the job with commanding race wins in heats one and 15 and, while his colours were twice lowered in between, by Bears’ flying Ben Barker, the Comets’ captain was always in the thick of things and recorded the fastest time of the season on Teesside in heat five.

Ty Proctor, who made his name in Britain with Redcar and was their number one in 2009, gave Cook superb support with ten points, while Thomas Jorgensen fought off the effects of flu to add seven.

Matt Williamson continued his blistering recent form from the reserve berth, scoring eight, plus three bonus points from six races.

The victory – Redcar’s first home defeat – gave the Comets revenge for losing their own 100 per cent home record to the Bears in an equally dramatic 45-45 draw at Derwent Park less than three weeks ago.

delighted Workington team manager Tony Jackson said: “Our away form used to be good but in the last couple of years we’ve managed just one win and a couple of draws, so this is a great start to the season and hopefully the first of many away wins.

“We’ve had two great matches against Redcar already this year and, apart from the Comets, the sport of speedway was the winner. Even the Redcar fans must have gone home happy with some of the racing.”

The Comets got off to to the best possible start with Cook, Williamson and Proctor winning the opening three heats to propel Workington into an early four-point lead.

Barker muscled his way under the clearly below par Jorgensen in heat four to help the Bears halve the deficit but when Cook won the next race by the length of the straight – and 0.8 seconds faster than anyone else at the South Tees Motorsports Park this year – the lead was back up to four.

As Barker and the equally quick Jason Garrity began to get up a head of steam, the next two races were shared before the impressive Campton and Williamson combined for a 4-2 in heat eight to stretch the Comets advantage to six points.

Again the home side threatened a comeback with a maximum 5-1 from Proctor and Williamson, when twice former Comets favourite Charles Wright, who was also not fully fit, fell in heat 12, it edged the score out to 40-32 in favour of the Cumbrians.

Cook lost for the first time to a determined Barker after a terrific four-lap tussle in heat 11.

And the Comets skipper again had no answer to his former England team-mate Barker in heat 13, as Garrity kept the match alive with a storming run to pass Jorgensen off of a 15-metre handicap, after the Bears rider had been disqualified for ignoring an earlier warning about moving at the start.

But it only delayed the Comets celebrations, as recent signing James Sarjeant and Williamson did enough in the penultimate race, sharing the points, to give the Comets an unassailable lead with a race to spare.

Cook put the icing on the cake when making it third time lucky and gaining revenge over Barker in the final heat, again after four breathtaking laps where there was not much more than a couple of bike lengths separating both of them and Garrity.

The three league points also leap-frog the Comets above their Teesside hosts into fifth place in the SGB Championship table.

REDCAR BEARS 42: Ben Barker 14, Jason Garrity 10+1, Jonas B Andersen 6, Charles Wright 3+1, Tom Bacon 3+1, Fernando Garcia 3, Richard Hall 2 WORKINGTON COMETS 48: Craig Cook 13, Ty Proctor 10, Matt Williamson 8+3, Thomas Jorgensen 7, Mason Campton 6+1, James Sarjeant 4+1, Rob Shuttleworth 0
Championship points: Redcar 0 Workington 3