OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNES | Bikesportnz

It was a mixed afternoon for the Kiwi contingent racing at round one of the Australian Motocross Championships at Broadford, Victoria, today.

Visiting Scotsman Billy Mackenzie (Kawasaki) won the day in the MX1 (open class) but it was a close battle behind him with New Zealand’s Cody Cooper (Suzuki) and young Australian Lawson Bopping (Suzuki) disputing runner-up honours.

With rain falling, the circuit turned to a muddy mess, but that seemed not to bother former GP racer Mackenzie, nor Mount Maunganui’s Cooper, the Kiwi hero winning the day’s third moto and the fourth and final sticky moto as well.

Cooper (pictured above) finds himself 18 points behind Mackenzie, with Bopping just one point further back.

Of further interest to the Kiwi fans, Motueka’s Josh Coppins (Yamaha) started his day with problems in the first of the four rip-fire format open class races, having to claw his way from the back of the field on the opening lap to eventually settle for 12th spot.

He came home third, sixth and 13th in the next three races to at least salvage something from what was indeed a very difficult day.

Coppins leads the New Zealand Motocross Championships, with that competition running concurrently and now at the halfway stage, but has some work to do now to claw his way back into the hunt for the Australian crown.

The third Kiwi in the open class mix, Rotorua Honda ace Michael Phillips, also had a tough day.

Phillips started brightly, finishing fifth in the opening moto, but followed that with seventh, 11th and 17th placings.

He is now 10th overall in the class after this opening round.

Meanwhile, in the Lites (250cc) class, KTM’s Matt Moss was the man of the hour, placing 1-2-2-1 to win the day overall, finishing up a whopping 22 points clear of fellow Australian Brenden Harrison (KTM).

Last year’s under-19s champion, Josh Cachia (KTM), is third in the standings, his 2-17-1-6 results putting him just six points behind Harrison.

Regarding the Kiwis, Christchurch’s Justin McDonald (Honda) finished 7-9-15-11 in his four Lites class outings, good enough for 11th overall on the day.

Mangakino’s Kayne Lamont (Suzuki), riding as a guest for the Rockstar Suzuki Team while he awaits final clearance to jet off to campaign in the United Kingdom, also had an up-and-down day, finishing 10-6-11-18 to end the day 13th overall in the Lites class.

The next round is at Appin, New South Wales, on April 3.

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