ZACH Cook said he was ‘lost for words’ after Pirates won the Cab Direct Championship Grand Final, with the Australian winning the heat that secured his side the title.

Pirates sensationally overturned a 12-point deficit to take the title last Wednesday at Wimborne Road, emerging 22-point victors on the night to take a 10-point aggregate victory over Oxford Cheetahs.

Cook rode well through the night, securing an 8+1 personal score as Pirates beat Cheetahs 56-34.

The aggregate victory was secured by Cook in combination with Tobias Thomsen in heat 14, as the pair took a 4-2 for the hosts to put their lead out of reach for Oxford.

(Image: Richard Crease) Reflecting on the meeting, Cook told the Daily Echo: “[I’m] still lost for words, to be honest, that was a big one.

“It's cool feeling that, I think we were about 14 points down at one point, we just dug deep, and I’ve got no words.

“Everyone just went above and beyond, and we wanted it bad and I think that showed in the end.”

The meeting began well for Oxford, as Richard Lawson was excluded from the very first heat of the night and the Cheetahs extended their lead with a 4-2 in the first.

But Pirates kept chipping away at the deficit, and narrowed the gap through the opening heats, eventually drawing level in heat nine.

On the start to the meeting, Cook said: “When Rich got excluded in that first heat, sometimes that sets a tone for the meeting, but thankfully it didn't.

“We knew we had a job to do, and all the boys dug deep, we believed in ourselves.

“I know there was a lot of people that probably didn't believe that we could do it, and that makes it a little bit better, that we showed them that we could.

“I’ve got no idea what to say, just so happy. You work so hard all year to do this and to do it the way we done it was, yeah, pretty special.”

(Image: Richard Crease)

After the ninth, Oxford regained the aggregate lead in the tenth, maintained it in the 11th, but fell behind for the first time in the 12th as Ben Cook led Tobias Thomsen for a 5-1.

This narrow lead for Pirates was extended in the crucial 13th as Lawson and Tom Brennan secured a 4-2 over the dangerous pair of Sam Masters and Scott Nicholls.

Coming into the 14th, Pirates just needed Zach Cook and Thomsen to take a 4-2 to mathematically secure the title.

“I was pretty nervous at the start line there,” Cook said.

“I knew I had a job to do, I knew what I needed to do.

“Once I came out of that first corner in front and I just went for it, and I looked back and seen Tobi there, I knew we needed a 4-2.

“When I saw him there, yeah, that's pretty special.”

Pirates will hope to secure the treble in 2024 as they face Oxford once again in the KO Cup final this week.