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COOKIE CLAIMS COAL CUP PRELIM

Collie Speedway delivered a proper opening chapter of the A1 Bin Hire + Collie Bin Hire Coal Cup, the kind of night where the pace is real, the margins are thin, and the story changes corner by corner.

From the first drop of the green, Ken Melvin looked like the metronome of the field…. tidy, fast, and relentless. By the end of the heats he’d done the damage early, winning all three and banking maximum points.
But Night 1 wasn’t just about clean sheets.

The feel good moment came with Ryan Davis in the 3w rolling out for his Legend Cars debut after 15 years on the sidelines. No easing into it, Davis was immediately in the thick of it, learning the rhythm of the division at full speed and proving he’s going to be a factor.

Then came the kind of twist Collie is famous for. In Heat 3, Michael Cook had the race in his hands, out front, setting the pace when a front suspension failure sent him spinning and brought his lead undone in an instant. The pack closed, the order reshuffled, and suddenly the whole night had a different edge.
The attrition hit hard as well. Brad McGregor suffered an engine failure in Heat 3, ending his night and ruling him out of the feature, while Ben Boyd was also forced out early after breaking an axle in Heat 2 and deciding his night was done.

If the heats set the table, the Prelim A-Main served the main course.
For 15 laps it was a duel that felt like it tightened every time they came back to the flag stand, Cook and Melvin trading clean, high speed laps like they were tied together by a tow rope. Melvin’s consistency was still there, but Cook’s car looked sharper every lap, closing the gap and showing his nose where it mattered.

Then it came down to the moment everyone in the grandstand leans forward for.

Last corner. One shot. Cook committed, made it stick, and drove off the turn with the lead. Squeezing his rival while Melvin threw everything at the run to the line, but it wasn’t enough, Cook picking up the win by just 0.176 seconds.
Behind them, the night kept delivering. Ryan Davis capped his comeback story with a podium (3rd) while Greg Joss and Cody Roberts completed a hard earned top five.

Overall points heading into Night 2….
??.) 42W Ken Melvin - 153
??.) 7W Michael Cook - 103
??.) 20W Greg Joss - 97
??.) 26W Rob Trenaman - 96
??.) 16W Cody Roberts - 80
??.) 3W Ryan Davis - 77
??.) 78W Steve Barrow - 67
??.) 96W Kye Cook - 53
??.) 94W Ben Thorpe - 49
????.) 12W Ben Boyd - 17
????.) 9W Brad McGregor - 13

Heading into Night 2, it’s Ken Melvin who stands as the high points man, but the Coal Cup is far from settled.

The field also grows for the main night, as Kim Williams, Wayne Campbell and Zoe Eason join the fight. With fresh cars entering the mix and everyone chasing position, expect the intensity to lift immediately.
With the main event stretching out to 35 laps, it becomes a different kind of contest…. tyre management, traffic, and timing will matter as much as outright speed.

If Night 1 was the warning shot, Night 2 is where the Coal Cup story gets written.

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