PETERBOROUGH newcomer Ben Cook made a solid start to his Australian Championship campaign on Tuesday – but just missed out on a semi-final berth.
Cook scored eight points at Gillman, including four second places, but that caused him to finish narrowly outside the top eight on countback.
He had failed to score in an ultra-tough Heat 14 which also featured Jason Doyle and Jack and Chris Holder, and that left him needing a win from Heat 19 to go through.
That race ended with a crash for Brady Kurtz, who came down with Cook unable to avoid him, and the result was awarded to Rohan Tungate over Cook with Kurtz excluded.
Doyle went on to win the meeting ahead of Jack Holder, Max Fricke and Justin Sedgmen, and the next round of the series is at Albury-Wodonga on Saturday.