Mount Maunganui’s Cody Cooper is a quarter of the way down the path towards reclaiming the national MX1 motocross crown that he last held in 2011.

The 29-year-old Moto City Suzuki hero took his Speed Shop-prepared RM-Z450 machine to a hat-trick of top-three finishes at the first round of four in this season’s New Zealand Motocross Championships near Timaru on Sunday, enough to give him a solid nine-point lead over a big-bike class laden with international talent.

Cooper hounded MX1 class defending champion Ben Townley (Carlton Dry Honda CRF450) all the way to the chequered flag in the day’s opening race, the undulating earth scorched by temperatures in the mid 30s, to send a stern warning that he would be a huge threat for the title this season.

And so it proved when Cooper romped to an impressive victory in the next race, with Townley crashing out of the event and visiting Scotsman Billy MacKenzie (JCR Yamaha Racing YZ450F) and Australian duo Kirk Gibbs and Todd Waters (both KTM Australia) left to gasp in Cooper’s wake.

Cooper settled for a safe third placing in the last race of the day, finishing behind Waters and MacKenzie, and then immediately headed for the ice bath in the Moto City Suzuki Team rig.

“It was tough in that heat but a good day for me in the end,” Cooper said as he soaked in the cooling waters.

“We certainly all felt the heat today.”

Cooper will be hoping to apply some more heat of his own when the championship heads to round two at Patetonga, in the Thames Valley, in two weeks’ time.

“I need to be consistent to win this title back,” said Cooper. “I am very happy with the bike. I wanted to leave Timaru with a points lead and I achieved that. This is traditionally a bad track for me, so it is great to leave with a points lead and my body still in one piece.”

Moto City Suzuki team manager Andrew Hardisty said Cooper’s result on Sunday was “vindication and apt reward for a lot of hard work being put in by him and by the team around him”.

“We are taking nothing for granted but it’s certainly a very strong platform to build on,” said Hardisty, a former multiple national motocross champion.

Cooper’s team-mate, fellow Mount Maunganui rider Rhys Carter, had a mixed day in the MX2 (250cc) class but he remains well-positioned to again finish the championship on the podium.

Carter took his RM-Z250 to finish 4-10-3 in his three races, uncharacteristically crashing twice in race two and both times impressively fighting back through the talent-packed field.

“I felt confident today but I think I rode over my head in race two and the crashes cost me dearly. At least I have solid points on the board and I achieved that at an unforgiving track. I think I can move forward from here.”

The rider who finished top of the MX2 class at Timaru was Queenstown’s Scotty Columb (JCR Yamaha Racing YZ250F), with Hamilton’s Darryll King (Fox DC Fuzion Yamaha YZ250) second, Australian visitor Brock Winston (CMR Red Bull KTM 250SX) third and Carter ended the day in fourth spot overall.

The Moto City Suzuki team is supported by Suzuki New Zealand, Bel Ray oils, Pirelli, Renthal, The Dirt Guide, Taupo Diesel Solutions, BikesportNZ.com and Koromiko Engineering.

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com