BEN Cook said it was a relief to return to the Poole lineup and lead Pirates to the BSN Series title after returning from a mandatory concussion standdown.

The skipper returned to flying form, securing a maximum with four wins from his four heats, as Pirates retained the title with a 110-70 aggregate victory over Scunthorpe Scorpions.

After lifting the trophy in front of the Pirates fans, Cook told the Daily Echo it was good to be back.

“[It’s] a bit of a relief, to be honest, after the first race,” he said.

“It's one of them injuries. It's a tricky one. It's not like having a sore arm or something.

“The head's a funny old thing. You can feel good, but when everything's happening so fast, it can be pretty overwhelming. So, it was good to get it out of the way and back in some winning form and lift the trophy.

“That was the main thing.”

(Image: Richard Crease)

On his message to the team going into the meeting, Cook said he told the other six riders: “Just keep doing what we've been doing all year, really.

“Don't get too complacent, just go out there, get the job done and that's what we've done.”

Looking ahead, Cook said the side needs to be dialled in for the next two finals, both against Oxford, in the Championship Grand Final and the KO Cup final.

He said it’s looking good, but there is still more to come from the side.

On Oxford, Cook said: “They're a tough team, for sure, and we've got to be on our ball there, but I feel like we can go there and win.

“But like I said, we're all going to be firing and they're good here, so we can't give them too much of a lead. But it's going to be tough. We've got to do it twice against them.

“So we're in the good end of the year, so we've got to get a job done.”

(Image: Richard Crease)

Rocket man Richard Lawson was also in fine form in the BSN Series final, securing a paid maximum.

He told the Daily Echo it was awesome to have Cook return and hit the ground running.

“[I’m] really happy for him and, you know, he felt no ill effects and that was good to see,” Lawson said.

“He just picked up straight where he left off.”

On the team’s performance against Scunthorpe, Lawson said: “Just superb.

“Everyone did their job and it was good to see everyone riding so confident and it's always good to get a trophy back.

“You know, we won it last year and we've defended it well and, yeah, carry some confidence into the Grand Final.

He added: “You ride with confidence and I feel like we rode well away at Scunthorpe and we can take that to Saturday.”