New Zealand’s Cody Cooper topped the points at round six of the 2010 Rockstar Energy Drink Australian Motocross Championships  at Wodonga on Sunday.

The Rockstar Motul Suzuki rider does, however, still has some work to do and may be leaving his charge too late — he is sixth in the championships standings, with just two rounds still to come.

Of course the Mount Maunganui rider is no stranger to mounting come-from-behind charges – he bounced back from a shocking start at the New Zealand Motocross Championships last season, eventually winning seven of the 12 MX1 races — to finish a close runner-up in the open class, missing out on the Kiwi crown by just two points.

Cooper is now just three points behind Honda’s Dean Ferris and nine points behind Yamaha’s Cheyne Boyd.

Meanwhile CDR Rockstar Yamaha’s Jay Marmont has retained his series lead in Australia and now sits 16 points clear of Kawasaki Racing Team’s Billy Mackenzie.

With the thermostat dropping to minus two degrees in the early hours of the morning, riders were in for a chilly start to the round.

After struggling in the first half of the season, Cooper finally found some consistent form, stringing together a run of strong rides, however he wasn’t alone with a number of Aussie riders stepping it up a gear and putting on a spectacular show for fans at the Wodonga circuit.

Cooper was fastest in qualifying, however with Honda privateer Ferris merely 0.001 of a second behind him, and four other riders all within one second, the day was shaping up to be massive.

In the first moto, Scottish former GP ace Mackenzie looked set to continue his strong form from previous rounds, leading for the majority of the race with Marmont, Boyd, Cooper, and Honda’s Todd Waters all chopping and changing until the final laps of the moto.

Cooper came from seventh place at the beginning of the race, gradually picking his way through the field to catch and pass Mackenzie on the very last lap to take the win.

The Kiwi continued his strong form in the second moto, scoring the holeshot and taking command of the race ahead of JDR Motorex KTM’s Tye Simmonds and Mackenzie.

While the front runners didn’t change, Marmont was facing challenges of his own; trying to keep as many championship points ahead of Mackenzie as possible.

At the flag, Cooper had stormed out to an eight second lead, ahead of Simmonds with Mackenzie wrapping up the moto in third.

The final moto, however, belonged to Simmonds, as he took the lead ahead of Mackenzie and reigning champ Marmont within the first lap.

At times it seemed Mackenzie was catching the 18-year-old, however the determined rider powered on to take his first Pro Opens win since joining the class this year.

Again Mackenzie was forced to settle for second place ahead of Marmont who managed to hold onto third despite a late challenge from Cooper.

“The last few weeks have been massive for me and the team,” Cooper said afterwards.

“I’ve been over here and we’ve been working so hard to get the bike right and getting me sorted and the entire team has done an amazing job.

“We made some changes to my program as well, and I’ll even make some more changes as a result of today which will be even more positive.

“I’m pumped to be up on the top step and certainly hope to keep it this way for the rest of the Series.”

Series leader Marmont was disappointed with his weekend.

“I’m happy to still have the red leader plate, but to be honest I’m disappointed with my performance today and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Marmont said.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself and I ride quite tight, which is probably why I pumped up in the first moto and made a few mistakes.

“I’ve got to go home and work harder because I want to win races; I want to win the championship by winning races, not merely by coming second or third each time.”

RESULTS:

Pro Open Results

1 Cody Cooper – Suzuki – 68

2 Billy Mackenzie – Kawasaki – 64

3 Jay Marmont – Yamaha – – 54

4 Cheyne Boyd – Yamaha 50

5 Tye Simmonds – KTM – 47

6 Todd Waters – Honda – 44

7 Daniel McCoy – KTM – 39

8 Dean Ferris – Honda – 35

9 Riley Graham – Kawasaki – 34

10 Lewis Woods – Honda – 33

11 Dean Porter – Suzuki – 32

12 Beau Ralston – KTM – 31

13 Robbie Marshall – Yamaha – 23

14 Thomas Alexander – Honda – 21

15 Louis Calvin – KTM -21

16 Nathan Brochtrup – Honda – 13

17 Danny Anderson – KTM -10

18 Craig Anderson – Husqvarna – 10

19 Luke Davis – Yamaha – 7

20 Keiron Hall – Suzuki – 6

Pro Open Standings after round 6

1 Jay Marmont – 295

2 Billy Mackenzie – 279

3 Tye Simmonds – 275

4 Cheyne Boyd – 264

5 Dean Ferris – 258

6 Cody Cooper – 255

7 Todd Waters – 230

8 Daniel McCoy – 198

9 Lewis Woods – 159

10 Beau Ralston – 150

11 Andrew McFarlane – 111

12 Dean Porter – 106

13 Riley Graham – 84

14 Craig Anderson – 76

15 Brad Anderson – 75

16 Louis Calvin – 72

17 Robbie Marshall – 69

18 Nathan Brochtrup – 69

19 Brent Landman – 65

20 Simon Thompson – 63

Pro Lites Results

1 PJ Larsen – KTM – 75

2 Cody Mackie – Kawasaki – 58

3 Ryan Marmont – KTM – 50

4 Ford Dale – Yamaha – 50

5 Jason Dougan – Yamaha – 47

6 Kirk Gibbs – Yamaha – 46

7 Lawson Bopping – Suzuki – 41

8 Kade Mosig – Suzuki – 40

9 Brendan Harrison – KTM – 36

10 Luke Styke – Yamaha – 35

11 Brock Winston – KTM – 29

12 Cameron Taylor – Yamaha – 28

13 Kim Ashkenazi – Suzuki – 20

14 Luke George – Kawasaki – 20

15 Darryll King – Yamaha – 14

16 Kody Wheeler – KTM – 14

17 Michael Phillips – Honda – 13

18 Nick Murray – Honda – 11

19 Michael Addison – Honda – 11

20 Taylor Potter – KTM – 5

Pro Lites Standings after round 6

1 PJ Larsen – 357

2 Kirk Gibbs – 273

3 Cody Mackie – 271

4 Ryan Marmont – 265

5 Ford Dale – 226

6 Lawson Bopping – 219

7 Luke Styke – 219

8 Michael Phillips – 181

9 Kade Mosig – 177

10 Luke George – 161

11 Michael Addison – 111

12 Darryll King – 107

13 Matt Ryan – 89

14 Brock Winston – 85

15 Brendan Harrison – 81

16 Nick Murray – 79

17 Cameron Taylor – 77

18 Lewis Stewart – 70

19 Kim Ashkenazi – 68

20 Kody Wheeler – 65

Under 19’s Results

1 Ross Beaton – Yamaha – 68

2 Joshua Cachia – KTM – 61

3 Dylan Peterson – Honda – 60

4 Harley Quinlan – Yamaha – 52

5 Matthew Phillips – Honda – 45

6 Cameron Dillon – Honda – 43

7 Errol Willis – Suzuki – 41

8 John Phillips – Honda – 38

9 Kieran Leigh – Yamaha – 37

10 Alex Morris – Kawasaki – 37

11 Luke Arbon – Kawasaki – 34

12 Ethan Martens – KTM – 23

13 Nicholas Sutherland – Yamaha – 19

14 Kyle McKeddie – Suzuki – 19

15 Shaun Redhead – Yamaha – 18

16 Geran Stapleton – Honda – 18

17 Sam Southey – Honda – 13

18 Carl Flynn – Honda – 9

19 Corey Lucas – Kawasaki – 9

20 John Prutti – Yamaha – 6

Under 19s standings after round 6

1 Joshua Cachia 334

2 Ross Beaton 308

3 Dylan Peterson 255

4 Matthew Phillips 248

5 Luke Arbon 231

6 Harley Quinlan 227

7 Kieran Leigh 195

8 John Phillips 178

9 Hamish Dobbyn 177

10 Ethan Martens 168

11 Cameron Dillon 141

12 Errol Willis 123

13 Nicholas Sutherland 109

14 Shaun Redhead 105

15 Sam Southey 95

16 Alex Morris 86

17 Jake Wright 76

18 Geran Stapleton 59

19 Mitch Budd 58

20 Cameron Solomon 52

© Photo by Kjax Communications