A quarter of a century of Kiwi motocross domination was shattered by Australian visitor Kirk Gibbs at the weekend.

The 25-year-old from Queensland took his KTM450 to win the 54th annual Honda New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville on Sunday afternoon, becoming the first non-Kiwi in 25 years to win the coveted New Zealand crown.

Not since American visitor Willie Surratt won there in 1989 has any international rider won the title and that says a lot with dozens of extremely talented riders coming from such countries as Australia, Japan, the United States, Great Britain, Denmark and New Caledonia over the past couple of decades to do just that.

But Gibbs, in only his second appearance at the event after his debut last season, was in sublime form on Sunday, shocking everyone when he caught and passed last year’s Woodville champion and the New Zealand No.1, Mount Maunganui’s Cody Cooper, in the closing stages of the day’s main feature race and took the chequered flag.

“Just being able to ride at all is a bit of a shock actually,” said Gibbs, in New Zealand as a guest rider for the Auckland-based CMR Red Bull KTM Team.

“Usually, at this time of the year, I’m suffering from one sort of injury or another. This is the first time in five years that I have not been injured in my off-season.”

Gibbs, along with fellow Australian KTM riders Luke Styke and Caleb Ward, arrived at the iconic Woodville event to begin their build-up for their own Australian Motocross Championships campaign and, certainly as far as Gibbs was concerned, it couldn’t have gone much better.

“It is awesome to win a huge honour like this. Winning the Woodville GP is a massive thing.

“I think I sort of sneaked up on the rear wheel of Cody. I don’t think he realised how close I was. My bike is very quiet … so perhaps you could say I was in stealth mode,” he laughed.

Cooper completely dominated each of the MX1 races, winning three races from three starts with Gibbs finishing runner-up each time, but, unfortunately for Cooper, who rides for The Honda Shop Racing Team, they were not races that decided the GP title.

Queenstown’s Scott Columb (Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team) finished third overall in the MX1 class with Styke and Rotorua’s John Phillips (The Honda Shop Racing Team) rounding out the top five.

The four-round New Zealand Motocross Championships kick off at New Plymouth, in Taranaki, in two weeks’ time, of February 8, and Gibbs, Cooper, Styke and Phillips must now be respected by the Kiwis as New Zealand MX1 title contenders.

Meanwhile, in the MX2 class, Rotorua’s Mike Phillips (The Honda Shop Racing Team) was again the top dog, finishing 3-2-1 in his three races to take the overall win by 11 points from Ward, who finished 1-12-2.

Hamilton’s Josiah Natzke (CMR Red Bull KTM) was unbeaten in his three seniors 125cc class races to easily win the grade ahead of Taupo’s Wyatt Chase (Total Yamaha YZ125).

Pahiatua’s Paul Whibley (Freedom Moto Yamaha), now settled back in New Zealand after more than a decade of racing overseas that included him clinching two United States cross-country titles, won both of the novelty river races at Woodville on Sunday.

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

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Results from Sunday HERE