ALL BETS ARE OFF | Bikesportnz

All bets are off for the four-round New Zealand Motocross Championships, set to kick off near Timaru on Saturday (February 8).

The defending champions are the favourites to reclaim their respective trophies, but only just, with an assortment of exciting talent lining up and all of them very capable of snatching the silverware away.

Mount Maunganui’s national MX1 champion Cody Cooper jumped ship from the Suzuki he used to win the title on last November and he now campaigns a Honda in 2014 and he will line up as MX1 favourite at the Pleasant Point track (pictured above) on Saturday.

He was impressive in pre-season hit-outs toward the end of 2013, winning the Waikato Motocross Championships and the New Zealand Supercross Championships, although he only narrowly won the rain-ruined Whakatane Summercross just after Christmas and had his work cut out to win the New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville just over a week ago.

However, Cooper will have a huge fight on his hands with Summercross MX1 class runner-up Brad Groombridge, the Taupo man who now has the MX1 Suzuki ride that was vacated by Cooper last September. That inter-brand rivalry alone should make for interesting dynamics for the Backflips Clothing-sponsored nationals this summer.

Waitakere’s Ethan Martens (Yamaha), Paraparaumu’s Jesse Donnelly (Kawasaki), Christchurch’s Justin McDonald (Honda), Hamilton’s Jesse Wiki (KTM) and Atiamuri’s Dion Picard (Kawasaki) could also feature near the front of the MX1 class this season, but, what is perhaps more likely, the international riders flooding into the country should pose an even bigger threat.

Scotsman Billy MacKenzie (Yamaha) and Australians Kirk Gibbs and Ford Dale (both KTM) and Matty Howarth (Kawasaki) are not coming to New Zealand for a holiday; they’re coming to win.

Australian Brock Winston, who finished runner-up to Queenstown’s Scott Columb in the MX2 class here last season is heading across the Tasman to ride a 450cc Husqvarna in the MX1 class too and he can’t be counted out.

MX2 class champion Columb (Yamaha) has looked strong in recent outings but he hasn’t had everything go his way and this Kiwi international can expect fireworks when he battles riders such as Mount Maunganui’s Rhys Carter (Suzuki), Auckland’s Hamish Dobbyn (KTM), Rotorua’s John Phillips (Honda), Tauranga’s Peter Broxholme (Honda), Hamilton’s Darryll King (Yamaha), Australian Jay Wilson (Yamaha) and Taupo pair Nick Saunders (Kawasaki) and Cohen Chase (Yamaha).

Mangakino’s Kayne Lamont (Husqvarna) was convincing winner of the MX2 class at the Woodville GP a week ago and he must now rate as one of the favourites to win the MX2 class this Saturday.

Takaka’s Hamish Harwood (KTM), Te Awamutu’s Ryan Thompson (Honda), and Dunedin’s Campbell King (Suzuki) should also feature in the MX2 mix.

With 2013 national 125cc and under-21 champion Cameron Vaughan moving out of the class, it leaves a small void, but one that has been very quickly filled in recent weeks by national 125cc No.2 Logan Blackburn (Yamaha).

Te Puke’s Blackburn is favoured to lift the 125cc crown this season, but he’ll first have to survive the expected onslaught from such talented young rising stars as Atiamuri’s national junior champion Hadleigh Knight, Hamilton’s Josiah Natzke (KTM), Christchurch’s Dylan Walsh (KTM), Tauranga’s Aaron Wiltshire (KTM), Ngatea’s Ben Broad (Yamaha), New Caledonia’s Laurent Fath (Yamaha), England’s Rob Holyoake (Husqvarna) and, returning from injury, Kiwi international Courtney Duncan (Yamaha), to name a few.

Following the Timaru event, the series heads to Tokoroa for round two on February 23. Round three follows in Pukekohe on March 9 and, finally, it all wraps up in Taupo on March 22.

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