COOPER POTENT AT HALF STRENGTH
Mount Maunganui’s Cody Cooper (Honda Racing Team CRF450), overall winner in the MX1 class at Saturday’s final round of the nationals in Taupo. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
He may have been at less than full strength, but Bay of Plenty’s Cody Cooper was still a match for most of Australasia’s motocross elite this season.
The Honda Racing Team rider’s campaign to defend his New Zealand MX1 motocross title was fraught with difficulties as he coped with an injured hand and he wasn’t quite able to make it six national title wins in a row, but finishing overall runner-up to 2015 Australian MX1 champion Kirk Gibbs was a creditable result nonetheless.
Mount Maunganui’s Cooper was third overall in the championship standings at the start of Saturday’s fourth and final round of the 2018 New Zealand Motocross Championships in Taupo, but, by late afternoon, when the engines were shut down, the Honda Racing Team star was standing on the top step of the podium and had boosted himself to second overall for the series.
Gold Coast rider Gibbs (CML KTM Racing Team) had started the day in Taupo six points clear of Mangakino’s Kayne Lamont (Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team) and 18 points ahead of Cooper, the Honda man obviously in a tough spot, but still with aspirations of salvaging his season.
Cooper was certainly ready to accept the challenge.
He took his immaculately-prepared Honda CRF450 to finish a close runner-up to Gibbs in the first of the day’s three MX1 races. And Cooper was just warming up, as he came out guns blazing to dominate the next two races and win the day outright.
“I’ve been battling with my sore hand for a while, but did lots of practice with my starts and it paid off today,” said Cooper.
“When I arrived here, I knew the championship hadn’t been decided yet and I also knew there was always a possibility of winning, so I never gave up.
“I couldn’t do a couple of the big jumps that the other boys were doing, because of the impact on my hand … the flat-landers were killing me a bit. But I could work my way around them and it actually helped me in the rougher sections, where I could sort of bunny-hop the bike and float over some of the bumps,” he explained.
“I was just being less aggressive on the throttle and it helped me in some areas. By slowing down I was actually going faster, if that makes sense. I was minimising the stress on my hand.”
Gibbs finished the day second overall at Taupo, his 1-3-3 score-card in the three MX1 races there enough for him to secure the title, while a succession of crashes at Taupo saw Lamont forced to accept third overall for the series.
Meanwhile, another Australian rider, Todd Waters (Honda), this season appearing as a guest rider for the Honda Racing Team in only the second half of the series, also finished on the day’s podium in Taupo, third overall for the event, behind Cooper and Gibbs.
This was also enough for Waters to force his way into 11th overall for the series, despite contesting only half the series’ races.
Cooper now readies himself for a full season of racing in the United States.
He leaves to contest the AMA Motocross Nationals on April 24, that 12-round series set to kick off in Sacramento, in California, on May 19.
“I can’t wait for it,” said Cooper. “Obviously I’m going to have some time off the bike now, just to get my hand right again. I really wanted to do some long sessions on the bike, 30-minute motos, but I can’t now. I think I’d rather be healed up though, than still be injured when I get to the US.
“Where everyone over there rides, in California, I think it’s probably not possible for me to win. I can maybe hope for tenth placings. But on the east coast, those tracks suit me a bit better.”
Cooper finished fifth overall in the US in 2008 and ninth overall the following season and he believes, if everything clicks, he can achieve similar results again this year.
Meanwhile, West Auckland’s Hamish Harwood (CML KTM Racing Team) wrapped up the New Zealand MX2 (250cc) crown on Saturday and Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis (Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team) won the National 125cc title for 2018.
© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com
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Mount Maunganui’s Cody Cooper (Honda No.1), leading the way at Taupo on Saturday. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
LEADING FINAL STANDINGS:
MX1 class:
1. Kirk Gibbs (Australia, KTM) 261 points; 2. Cody Cooper (Mount Maunganui, Honda) 250; 3. Kayne Lamont (Hamilton, Yamaha) 222; 4. Rhys Carter (Mount Maunganui, Kawasaki) 209; 5. John Phillips (Rotorua, Honda) 198.
MX2 (250cc) class:
1. Hamish Harwood (West Auckland, KTM) 297 points; 2. Brad Groombridge (Taupo, Suzuki) 227; 3. Jay Wilson (Australia, Yamaha) 197; 4. Hayden Smith (Taihape, KTM) 187; 5. Micah McGoldrick (Rangiora, Honda) 165.
National 125cc class:
1. Maximus Purvis (Mangakino, Yamaha) 294 points; 2. Tommy Watts (Wairoa, Husqvarna) 212; 3. Mason Semmens (Australia, KTM) 204; 4. Josh Bourke-Palmer (Rotorua, Yamaha) 202; 5. Grason Veitch (Dunedin, KTM) 195.
Full results can be found here: