GREAT Britain boss Alun Rossiter took a slice of personal satisfaction after Craig Cook was crowned British champion for the first time on Monday.

A week earlier, Rossiter had appointed Cook as his new national team captain for their 2017 World Cup campaign, and the Belle Vue rider then underlined his credentials with a stunning performance at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester to win a maiden domestic title.

Sandwiched between that, Cook edged closer to a place in next year’s Speedway Grand Prix series with victory in last Saturday’s qualifying semi-final and will now be in the line-up at the deciding GP Challenge in August, where the top three finishers will go on to fight for the world championship in 2018.

Rossiter is in the process of determining his final five-man team for the World Cup, cutting down an initial squad of 10 riders ahead of the start of GB’s campaign at Event One at King’s Lynn early next month.

The Swindon Robins boss admits it requires a thick skin to be national team manager due to criticism from elsewhere so was pleased to see his decision to back Cook vindicated.

“He had a fantastic week. He got made national captain, qualified for the Grand Prix Challenge after winning the meeting in Italy and then became British champion,” said Rossiter.

“It’s quite nice when you do something and then you see things like that happen afterwards. It makes you feel better because nobody wants to give you any praise.

“Craig is going to be an important person for us – they all will be. We need everybody on their top form to have a chance. I think I am pretty much there with the final team, there’s just a little bit of fine tweaking.

“It is what it is, you will upset people and they’ll say I got it all wrong but life is all about opinions and while I am in the job, it is my opinion that counts.”

Great Britain, who won a memorable World Cup silver medal on home soil last year, begin their fight for a place on the podium again at Event One at King’s Lynn on July 1.

They take on Australia, the Czech Republic and the USA at the Adrian Flux Arena, with the event winners qualifying for the World Cup final in Poland on July 8 and the second and third-placed teams progressing to a last-chance qualifying Race-Off a day earlier.