The Week That Was
Jim #32 and brother Pete #611 have been longtime members of the Pukekohe MCC. Jim also had a penchant for Road Racing and was often on one of his beloved road-race bikes at Hampton Down’s open days. Jim had a brain tumour and had a period of remission but alas it was not to last. He was 51 years of age. He was farewelled in Pukekohe yesterday at St Patrick’s on Seddon Street and buried in the cemetery across the road. Big funeral for a ‘real nice guy’ complete with 7 Priests and a Requiem Mass. Condolences to the families. More bad news on Tuesday, the world of motorcycling was shocked by the news of the death of Finnish Enduro rider Mika Ahola. Ahola, who reportedly died from injuries sustained during training in Girona, Spain, won five consecutive world Enduro championships from 2007 to 2011, across three different classes (E1, E2 and E3). Ahola also won the prestigious International Six Days Enduro title on seven occasions as part of Team Finland - and also claimed three individual title at the event. Summercross.
 Son Scott withdrew a week out having tweaked his right ankle. That allowed Justin McDonald in as MX1 was full. Justin had been having trouble with a broken finger and also pulled out at the last minute. We drove down that morning and arrived as Practice was about to finish. Lucky with the weather as it was overcast to sunny all day. The BOP MCC have spent $80,000 on the track. $35,000 of it went into a new pedestrian tunnel which allows spectators on the inside of the back straight. Remember that big drop-off before riders turned right into the back straight? Well, that hill has totally gone. It is now about 25mtrs wide of rollers where there is plenty of room to pass. Spectators on the eastern side of the Finish Line can now see the entire back straight. Entries tally was 515. On the 27th there was 189 Seniors which included the Vets with 36 riders in 35+ and 16 in 45+ with split starts.Next day, there was 200 Juniors on the 28th which included 26 Women. There were also 126 Minis. Big crowd of spectators on the 27th. First time they have ever used the third paddock and it was a one third full. I bet they wished they had booked more caterers as the queues were long. Josh Coppins had only been back in NZ for 12 days and only the last 4 on the bike. Yes, he was ‘slightly’ off the pace but still ran two 2nds and three 3rds. Ben Townley’s experience certainly showed especially in the Holeshots. The speed he carries is awesome to watch. In the first Moto he had a 12sec lead over Josh after just 3 laps. Great to see him back on form and I would suggest there is still a bit more ‘gas in the tank”. Cody Cooper also had a good day and not that far off BT101. Those three were standouts. The CMR KTM Team had a shocker day. Before we got there Chase Smith had already gone to Hospital – knee. In the second moto of the first round of MX1 Hayden Clark went down in the Holeshot very hard and had trouble getting rolling - his rear brake rotor was bent. In MX2 Race 2 Luke Burkhart went down in the Holeshot and later ‘tangled’ resulting in a DNF. He was not happy with DK. Talking DK. He harried those MX2 ‘youngsters’ all day as well as winning the 35+ Vets. He had 3 Vets races plus 5 MX2 races where he went 4th, 3rd, 4th, 4th and 1st. He also set the 10th fastest lap on the day. What a machine! It's DK's 43rd birthday this Saturday. Happy Birthday for Saturday. One other standout on the day was Honda's MX2 rider Cam Dillon. It got feisty out there, especially in MX2. Jayden Jessup served it up to Ethan Martens, not once but twice. Ethan was not happy either and let Jayden know on the start-line. Cam Dillon did the same to Peter Broxholme. Again, not once but twice – aren’t you on the same team? The format of two races back to back worked well. Aussie Geran Stapleton jumped the gate in one MX2 race resulting in only half starting so that red flag was the only start problem all day. The moment the first moto winner went over the line, the 5 minute countdown to the start of the next race commenced. If you had just been lapped you were going to only get a short break. The Club run a great event, there’s a big team of them and they are well organised. Things like grooming the start-straight make life safer for the riders although it wasn’t done later in the day. Only criticism I had was of some dodgy flag marshaling that I witnessed. We didn’t stay for prize-giving – headed straight for Cooks Beach - and below average weather. Two weeks of a 'no internet rule' was hard to take! Phoenix Titbits
Motorcycle Sales. 2011 was a solid year for the new motorcycle side of the auto industry, with a 6.6% sales increase in sales on 2010. Some 19,482 bikes were sold last year – compared with only 18,280 the year before. A strong rural sector contributed to the rise, demonstrated by the all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and off road segments seeing 10.9% and 8.9% growth respectively. 2011 was a solid year for the new motorcycle side of the auto industry, with a 6.6% sales increase in sales on 2010. Some 19,482 bikes were sold last year – compared with only 18,280 the year before. A strong rural sector contributed to the rise, demonstrated by the all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and off road segments seeing 10.9% and 8.9% growth respectively. Total off road sales topped 13,106, made up of 6570 ATVs - taking 33.7% of the new bike market - and 6536 off road 2-wheelers (33.5% market share). Total off road sales in 2010 were 11,929 – 1177 behind last year. On road sales figures come from actual registrations recorded by the NZ Transport Agency, while sales of off road bikes (which do not have to be registered) come from figures supplied by the respective distributors and compiled by the Motor Industry Association (MIA). The on road 'over 50cc' bike segment actually declined in 2011, from 4078 registrations in 2010 to 3936 for a 20.2% share of the new bike market. The 'under 50cc' on road segment rose from 2273 registrations in 2010 to 2440 in 2011 for a 12.5% share of the market. Transmoto
in Australia, where Ollie Sharp is Deputy Editor, says: "Rumour has it former
Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing's Mike Phillips has done a deal with MX Factory and
Accessories store on the Gold Coast to ride the MX Nationals this year.
Phillips rode the Pro Opens class in 2011 and finished sixth overall.”
Alex Gobert
from MotoOnline.com.au said yesterday:
"I spoke to Ben Townley last Friday for a magazine interview and he said that he is supremely confident with the bike that Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing have supplied him with so far. He also said that he did come very close to a deal with Jeff Ward Racing to race in the U.S, but that never came off. The big news though is that it looks as though he’ll race as many as seven AMA outdoors rounds this year alongside his Aussie races. BT didn’t say who with just yet, but that’s great news for him and should give us a real gauge at what level our locals are at. What else BT mentioned is that in Australia, he’d like to see spectators given a little better infield access at the tracks that are capable, much like they do in Europe and the U.S. Rather than being ‘stuck’ on the outside, fans will be up close to the action more often.”  Stephane Peterhansel (the guy I
did not know who he was at MXoN) has secured the 2012 Dakar Rally win by safely
completing the short final stage between Pisco and Lima this morning. The
result marks the Dakar debut of the ‘factory’ MINI and the 10th success of Peterhansel’s Dakar
career, and the first since the event moved from Africa to South America in
2009. The Frenchman was 10th
fastest through the final stage, resulting in a final margin back to MINI
team-mate Nani Roma of 41:56s in the overall standings. Giniel de Villiers confirmed his
impressive third place overall finish in the Imperial Toyota, ahead of Lenoid
Novitskiy and final stage winner Robby Gordon.Stephane Peterhansel: "When you think of how hard it is to win a Dakar, it’s incredible that I’ve been able to win ten of them,” It’s been a long time, I’ve been waiting for five years to win again! To take the victory in South America is a huge relief, it ranks among my best triumphs. My finest victory will always be my first win in the motorcycle category, but this one has something special to it. I was starting to doubt myself, to think I was growing too old for this, that I’d lost it or that I wasn’t made for South America… and in the end everything turned out fine.”  Daker Winners. Cyril Despres and Stephane Peterhansel. Crédit photo DPPI  Moto GP rider John Hopkins has undergone surgery to amputate the top of the middle finger on his right hand. Following numerous surgeries and complications after his crash at the Brno MotoGP event in 2011, the Crescent Suzuki World Superbike rider is now positive that, after yesterday's operation in California, it will not adversely affect his Championship challenge this year.  Reasonable
turnout at the Pukekohe Club Day at Harrisville last Sunday. Blake Gillard led out the Senior all-in Class from Jesse Wiki and Luke Temple, only to succumb to a problem with his old wrist injury. He finished 2nd but called it a day. Blake’s
employer Team Motor Group (aka TMG) are no longer KTM Dealers having closed their Broadway store
(Newmarket). They can still service KTM at the Takanini shop having sourced an
access to genuine parts. A switch
of brands awaits the rubber stamp – no, I did not say it was a blue stamp!
Talking
closures earlier. Waikato Yamaha
closed their doors end of November and then Full Throttle Yamaha in Pukekohe
voluntarily closed their’s a couple of days before Christmas. Two suppliers
have taken the trouble to tell me they have been paid out in full.
Puke Club allow the 65s on the big track as a racing class. Trouble was there was only one entry so he ran at the back of the 85s. There was 14 x 65s on the Mini Track with several been on there for three seasons – hello? Seniors like it that way as a lap by a slower 65 is rather lengthy. On the
corner after the start-straight (before descending down into the supercross
section), a truckload of wood mulch had been ripped in. It held up very well and gave riders the option of several
lines. A workgroup is sorting the changes and next week a 25 tonne digger on
making some BIG changes pre Round 3 of the Nationals on 04 March. Greg Atkins has sent Tony Cooksley the measurements for a set of rollers between jumps 5 and 7. 7 will also be steeper. More info soon.
Make a diary note that Saturday 11 February will be a longer practice, 11am to 4pm - we have lost several days due to the rain. Luke Smith
was there keeping an eye on several youngsters he is helping out. As reported earlier he’s back doing his
FMX thing. Word gets around the
FMX world fast and he has accepted an invitation to join Nitro Circus. They will launch ticket sales in
November for a Feb/Mar 2013 NZ Tour.
The NZ
Senior Motocross Champs are not all that far away. A reminder of the dates:
This going to be the best MX1 line-up for some years with Ben Townley, Cody Cooper and Josh Coppins riding. Add to that we hear of
two MX1 Aussies coming. Tye Simmonds (KTM) who will ride out of CMR Red Bull Racing
and Todd Waters who rides for the
Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing in Aust, the same team as
BT101.
Also, this year the Clubs are doing their own thing with accepting entries, sponsors, promotion and programme. MNZ have funding from the top 5 manufacturers and those funds will be put towards the overall prize-money and television coverage on ONE Sport of two rounds only. The Clubs will also contribute to the overall prize-pool.  Jeremy Long
Ever wondered who that is jumping the KTM on that Lotto television advert? It’s Greg Pratt, Sales Manager at AMPS - Auckland Motorcycles & Power Sports. Joel
Doeksen update. Joel was back briefly at Christmas with his parents who are in the
process of setting up a new home in Fort Lauderdale in Florida. Joel will not now be returning to
Holland but will ride in State events in Florida. He is about to take delivery
of two KTM 450 SX-Fs - Ryan Dungey replicas.
Only 3
weeks until the next two California Superbike Schools at Hampton Downs and they
still have places available on both days in all levels.
For more
information or to book your place go to www.californiasuperbikeschool.co.nz or
phone Darren Sweetman (09)412 6266.
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Sad
news to report - the passing of 
Canard (pictured right) who missed the opening round in Anaheim while recovering from an
earlier injury. "I am excited to be here, and I’m excited to be riding,” said
Canard. "It is a bummer for me because I am not right up with the guys that I
normally compete with, but overall it was a very successful weekend.” He rode a
respectable race, finishing in seventh place in both his heat and the main
event.