THIRD ROUND ROSTRUM FINISH FOR BEN

Ben Cook finished third in the third round of the Australian Championships after coming through the qualifiers under the countback ruling and it proved that his opening ride second place over fourth finisher Josh Pickering was the crucial ride.

Both had finished their heats with eight points, along with Brady Kurtz. The latter had one win and one second place to his name whilst Cook and Pickering both had a race win, two second places a third and a fourth, and so the higher ranking was given to Cook by virtue of the heat one result.

Ben then banked second place in his semi-final behind Ryan Douglas to set up a final with that pair , and the top two in the series, Max Fricke and Rohan Tungate. Cook spent the race attacking  Douglas for second place but had to eventually settle for overall third as Max Fricke's win and Tungate's last place meaning the series lead changed hands with two points Fricke now holding a slender two point lead. 

Ben has moved on twenty four points in the championship, level with Kurtz and Sam Masters, with seven riders ahead of them with two rounds remaining,

Zach Cook had to settle for just six points through his brace of second places and an equal number of third places and presently sits in eleventh place in the series on nineteen points.
    
Current standings
43 Max Fricke, 41 Rohan Tungate, 35 Jack Holder, 29 Ryan Douglas, 27 Josh Pickering Chris Holder, 26 Jaimon Lidsey, 24 Brady Kurtz Sam Masters Ben Cook, 19 Zach Cook, 15 James Pearson, 13 Keynan Rew, 6 Michael West, 5 Tate Zischke, 4 Fraser Bowes  Jye Etheridge,3  Jack Morrison