2012 NZ Senior Motocross Nationals - Round 1 TimaruTony Cooksley and I had flown down to Christchurch whilst our sons, Shey and Scott, had spent two days driving Tony and Shey’s YZ450s down. Tony and a business associate had a string of appointments throughout the day as they were evaluating opportunities for Tony’s concrete cutting and drilling business, Procut. I was the driver as I knew my way around. I had lived in Christchurch in 1984-85 as South Island Manager for Qantas. My then office was right on Cathedral Square, right opposite the symbol of Christchurch, the Cathedral. We have all seen the photos, I expected the worst. We saw a lot of Christchurch outside of the Red Zone and were in disbelief. What was the ‘treasure’ of New Zealand is in ruins. We could see into the Red Zone that many buildings were gone with many still to go. 50,000 people worked in the Red Zone before the second earthquake on 22 February, where are they now? Hagley Park looked fine but along the Avon on the northern side, the roads were a shambles. Due to liquifaction and subsidence. Into Avonside the roads were almost undriveable and it was like a ghost town. Most houses were boarded up and the lawns and gardens understandably overgrown. Most of these people would have had mortgages and what are they left with? A mortgage that won’t go away. Last year, on the 21st of February, we were returning from Timaru and had several hours to do the tourist thing and look at the damage of the first earthquake of 04 September 2010. We drove all over the place, including Sumner, and returned to the city for lunch - at an inside/outside café on Cashel Street. We flew out at 3:05pm and the very next day, 22nd Feb, the second quake hit. We could see through the fence that the building that housed that cafe was coming down. We had an appointment cancel on us so we decided to revisit Sumner. The causeway and roads are a shambles, all the cliff faces have collapsed. Abandoned houses teeter on the edge. It looks like a war zone, those poor people. We were surprised how many tourists were around. We had, had enough and met the arriving boys at our motel out near Yaldhurst – well out of the worst earthquake zone. We had a call from one of Tony’s contacts. They would take us into the Red Zone on Monday.
Saturday and we got to the track in the early afternoon and the sprinklers were working. Puddles were forming – déjà vu on the previous year? No, last year was far too much water. The South Canterbury track is on land owned by Chris and Sharon Knight, son Jeremy is better known for his Backflips clothing business. It’s a good 20 minutes South West of Timaru, through the township of Pleasant Point and out onto Chisholm Road – about 140 kms from Christchurch. Same layout but wider in places, a new rhythm section in the ‘stadium’ before the finish line and new berms on several corners. The funnel of the start-straight still kinked left then right and still too tight. Fine for a Club Day but not at this level of rider with little between them. For once I was right, there was a crash in that corner in almost every championship race. Sunday morning’s final sign-on was from 7am followed by riders briefing. They held a minutes silence for 19 year old Cameron Jones who had died on Friday from injuries sustained at the Levels Race Track, in the 600 Supersport Road Race, couple of weekends before. Apart from their Club President Chris Broadhead, who is a MX Commission member, there was no MNZ representation. Okay there was a Steward. No Bryan Davidson and no Dave Craig. They had Telesport there filming who are also doing Taupo. Pukekohe MCC had already voiced against it - told them a waste of money. No media-man Andy McGechan either. Each of the three classes would have 3 laps of Practice, then the green flag would come out for 30 minutes of Qualifying. A few questions asked - how would they signal the 20 minutes plus 2 laps. Answer to BT101 was white flag but they actually put out a 2 laps board then the white flag. A total of 97 signed on. There was only 3 MX3 riders so they would qualify with the 125 Class which was made up of 28 Under 21’s and 4 Senior 125s. MX3 would top-up as the 115% rule would apply. Try working out in your head what the average time of the Top 10 was, times 115%, and that was your cut-off point. There was 23 qualified for MX1 and 35 for MX2. MX3 ended up with 12 so they would have their own races. There was to be no riding in the pits (which is in the Suppl. Regs), fine getting there but not uphill back again. Won’t work getting there at Patetonga nor getting back at Harrisville.
QUALIFYING: 125s: First out and yes, they were very muddy. MX2 next and then MX1. By the time MX1 finished almost 2 hours later they were relatively clean. At lap 5 Micah McGoldrick was 5 seconds quicker than 2nd placed Cameron Vaughan - McG also spends a lot of time here. Cam Negus, now on a Suzuki, having been on blue for yonks, cut that back to 3.2secs. Was he ‘factory’ Suzuki – nah found it on TradeMe! For Round 2 he will be on a Husqvarna. Micah, under the guidance of Antony Sproull (Performance MX Coaching) left his best ‘till the last lap and went 5 secs faster than 2nd placed Aiden Kiff who was now on a Husqvarna. Aiden’s team-mate Sean O’Connor also on the 125 Husky. An aside. The BMW owned bike brand is growing in reputation and results with Alex Salvini winning the final round of the Italian Enduro Championship for 2nd overall and Simone Albergoni winning the Italian title in the 450 4-stroke class. In this year’s FIM MX2 World Championship Husqvarna are represented by Ricci Racing Husqvarna running Alessandro Lupino and Nick Triest. MX2: Cat and mouse session with most taking the opportunity to check their times. The top 4 were two seconds quicker with not much between them. They were Darryll King, Rhys Carter, Scott Columb and Luke Burkhart. I compared DK’s fastest to Micah’s – DK was 5 seconds faster. MX1: I was looking after Tony and Scott was looking after Shey. Scott had just got over a crook ankle and now had a sprained thumb so not entered. 4 laps into the MX1 Pract/Qual session and Shey had disappeared. He had landed awkwardly out the back and the bike had spat him off. We eventually found him back in the pits hobbling about with a very sore left thigh and a bike that had damage to the left hand side – the radiator was very bent. He had oil leaking from the oil filter cover and fellow Puke Club member Graeme McNeil had it apart. By the time I had found a spare from Darryll King’s crew Graeme had glued it up and Shey was set to go but he had run out of time. This disruption had ‘interfered’ with Tony’s qualifying laps but he was through at 25th. Lap 10 and Ben Townley set the fastest lap. That dragged the cut-off up to 2:16.220. Tony’s best was a 2:16.240. Bugger! Ben Townley had gone out hot and put down a time 6secs faster than anyone else. At the 10min mark Josh Coppins had brought that down to 1.6secs. Now I have a complaint. Access to the Timing Tech lap times was through a tinted window on Noel May’s van. Despite it being a bigger screen it was very hard to read. 22mins and Cody Cooper was through to 2nd. The top 3 was Ben Townley, 0.665 to Josh Coppins and 0.578 to Cody Cooper. They were 2 secs clear of 4th place. Making up the top 10 was Aussie Todd Waters, Justin McDonald, Hayden Clark, Michael Phillips, Hamish Dobbyn (after 5 operations on his knee), Nick Saunders and Brad Groombridge. DK had been 5 secs quicker than Micah’s 125 and in turn, BT101 was 5.4 quicker than DK. RACING: MX3: In MX3 there was a total of 6 from MX1, 3 from MX2 and 2 from 125, plus the 3 who had signed on for MX3.
Trouble was Shey’s bike would not run and 'nobody' could suggest the problem including Josh's mechanic. Nobody had ever had the problem with the reversed engine YZ450t – injectors maybe? All the way from Auckland for 4 laps!! He was annoyed to say the least plus he now had a very sore haematoma on his leg. Turned out the kill switch (a sealed unit), the internal spring had collapsed. It ended up as good racing to watch as close at the front. Neil Ritchie was ‘waxing lyrical’ about Tony and why not. Neil was there when Tony won the +50 yrs FIM World Veteran of Motocross Championship in 2007. Tony's 56 on 17 May and still can't be beaten many riders. Tony went 1-1-2 for 72 points from Matt Coombe 2-3-1 for 67 pts and Tommy Dillon 3rd on 58 – ilabb spent a lot of time filming Tommy. 125 Class: Race 1 and 16-year-old Micah McGoldrick went into the
Holeshot with a bike length lead but it was too hot and he went wide and off
the track, rejoining in 7th. By Lap 3 he took the lead off Logan Blackburn and
went on to win by 21secs. Callan May had, had a good start but started to fade.
Hadleigh Knight disappeared on lap 2 and we never saw him again? At the finish
there was less than a sec between Cam Negus and Cameron Vaughan. Dust was
beginning to become a problem especially at the start of the next race which
was MX2 – mid-pack wouldn’t have been able to see much at all.
#146 Micah McGoldrick. Race 2 was uneventful with McGoldrick winning by 26.6secs from Vaughan who was 7secs in front of Blackburn. Negus didn’t have the greatest of starts but came through for 4th. There was 4 DNFs. Race 3 and it was Blackburn who also did not get the greatest of starts and had work to do. By now the track was rough, tough and dusty so the SCMCC sorted a couple of bad bits and had the sprinklers on. McGoldrick went from go to whoa from Cameron Vaughan by 18.4secs with 4secs back to Negus who only just held off Blackburn. Was it a co-incidence that both Husqvarnas DNF’d? Overall a perfect score for McGoldrick of 75 which was
13-points clear of Vaughan on 62 and Blackburn on 60. Negus was 4th on 58. The
Under 21yrs podium is the same. MX2 Class:  Race 1: #94 is Lamont, #912 Columb, #1 DK, #76 Fogarty, #555 Dillon.Race 1 and to everyone’s surprise Kayne Lamont led out and stayed there for 3 laps until DK took over the lead, then it was Daryl Hurley. Hurley was a surprise but not really when you think about it. I can still ‘see’ his crash at the Rotorua Nats two years ago. He had the plate out of his foot five months ago and been cycle training. He hasn’t long been back on the bike but with his talent and experience he will only get better. He also suffered from arm pump but that’s only time on the bike. Talking disappearing, Shaun Fogarty disappeared from 3rd into lap 3 but was back for Race 2 and DFD Race 3 at 10 laps. Punctures? Don’t know but punctures were plentiful. Scott Columb came through the field to get claim Peter Broxholme (aka Broxy) and Hurley before the finish, Kieran Leigh, now on KX, dropped about 12 places in the middle of the race. Rhys Carter came through the field as well. It was hard to keep an eye on them all as they were well spreadout over the 2 minute track. At the flag it was Darryll King, Scott Columb, Rhys Carter, Daryl Hurley, Peter Broxholme and Luke Burkhart (aka Burga). A lot expected of Burga after his 1-1-1 at Woodville. . You could see how much quicker DK’s 2-stroke was on the straights. Later, when DK spoke to Commentator Neil Ritchie he said that he liked the track, it was easy to ride, lots of good lines and lots of berms. When questioned on the 2-stroke he said the YZ250F handled better but didn’t have the same power output.
Race 2 and Kayne Lamont led out again. Look at the corner chaos behind.
#94 Lamont, #76 Fogarty and #912 Columb get a good break on the rest. Luke Burkhart had a shocker start and was almost last around the corner – he made up 26 places as 6th at Lap 1. Hurley was in front but where was Lamont? I could see he had pulled off just before the Finish Line then rejoined dead last. Fogarty was next then Jesse Wiki, DK, Columb, Jayden Jessup, Ethan Martens and Rhys Carter. It was hard to keep up with the changing places. At the end of lap 10 Roydon White had a nasty high-side at the end of the rhythm section. The bike seemed to slam him into the ground. After some time he went to the ambulance – shoulder. 2 laps to go and it was Columb from Hurley and DK. Hurley takes the checquered 5 seconds in front of Columb who had come through a third of the pack. How come? Columb punctured in the lap before the white flag. It was fine until the valve stem ripped out. Next was DK, Carter, Martens, Burga (another 6th?), Jessup, Fogarty and Kieran Leigh.
Race
3 and #99 Burga got a ‘blinda’ of a start on the inside. #54 is Campbell King It seems not that long ago that Campbell was on that infernal CR150! DK was next. Next thing I saw Lamont leaving the track clutching his right elbow – that could have been wrist of shoulder? Soon the order was Columb, DK, Burga, Hurley and Carter. The next lap Burga was back in 5th. Next thing it was Damien King out on the Geico Honda – strange seeing him on red! Fogarty was also out. I later learned that he had hurt his fingers the previous week and could not hang on. Columb wins from DK, Hurley, Carter and Martens. So the Top 10 overall was: Columb 69 (pictured right), Darryll King 67, Hurley 63, Carter 56, Martens 46, Burkhart 40, Jessup 40, Broxholme 39, Campbell Kinga 28 and Geran Stapleton 28.
MX1:
Long time since we had seen such a classy field and there was a ‘buzz’ about
the crowd with high expectations on Ben Townley.
BT101 in the black/yellow gear, his front wheel
started to wash out and he nearly took out Coops rear wheel and #105 Mikey P who was
beside him. Down he went as did Shannon Hewitson and one other way out wide. BT
101 was second to last away. Dobbyn had two bike lengths over Coops at the end of the straight and towards the end of that lap it was a big gap Coppins, who was well ahead of Hayden Clark, who had Mikey P all over him and then it was Matt Hunt. If you wanted excitement this was it. At lap 1 it was Dobbyn from Coops to Josh. BT101 ‘had the bit between his teeth’ and was already up to 8th. Next thing he’s up to 4th. Quote of the day from Tony Cooksley; "Dobbyn’s fading like a black shirt in the sun!” as the fast guys picked up the intensity. In Dobbyn’s defence he said he has not ridden since Woodville. He got his new bike from Cyclespot Honda on the Thursday and then it was packed into the van bound for Timaru. They ran it in on the Saturday. Hamish said; "I ran out of puff, so hopefully I can stay with them by the last round!” Hayden Clark was another to fade and we were soon to find out why. He had caught his right leg and the knee blew up like a balloon. BT101 was in the lead at lap 8 and that was it. To me he visually slowed and that’s why it was only 1.395 to Josh Coppins. Then it was 22.7secs to Cooper followed by McDonald, the Aussie Todd Waters, Mike Phillips, Dobbyn, Hayden Clark, Brad Groombridge and Nick Saunders.
Race
2 : Holeshot was BT101 from #909 Dobbyn, #6 Coppins, #201 McDonald, and #1 Coops. BT101 was gone and set the fastest lap of 1:57.189. Waters was gone going into lap 3 whilst in 5th place. Brad Groombridge was climbing up through the midfield. Un-be-known to us BT101 has snagged the rear brake. He ended up with a completely snapped off rear brake system. 2 laps to go and Matt Hunt was out with a puncture whilst in 11th place. BT101 had a very comfortable lead of 23.6 secs. He won by 25.4 from Coppins, and it was 19.5 to McDonald, then Mike Phillips, Dobbyn, Cooper, Groombridge, Mason Phillips, Bjarne Frederiksen and Nick Saunders.
Race
3 and again it was BT101, Coppins is behind BT, #1 Coops, #105 Mikey P , #909 Dobbyn and #100 Nick Saunders. Near the end of lap 4 Mikey P was battling with McDonald and tried to out-jump him into the Finish Line bowl in order to get around McD. It was too big and he was into the fence and recovered well, only dropping 8 places – 4th to 12th. Hunt was out from 10th place with yet another puncture. I was on the straightaway after the finish line and saw the tail-end of a massive aerial sideways from Coppins. A lesser rider would have been in the ambulance. Mason Phillips was up in 6th, his best ride of the day. Groombridge was behind him in 7th. BT101,
Coppins and Cooper carry phenominal speed. BT101 enters a corner faster than
anyone else. Those three will be race fit by the time they hit the Aussie Nats
start and that will be a worry to the Aussies who already fear Townley.
Ben Townley attacked all day long. ikey P looks to be almost back to full fitness. He and McDonald looked good but not quite the pace of the front three. The
rider who impressed me the most was Dobbyn. He is an awesome starter as we witnessed
at Timaru. Just shows you, that is a 100% stock bike., not even a pipe. I’ve
always been a fan but by the end of the NZ series he’s going to be bike fit. He
only has 3 months to go in Builder’s Apprenticeship and wants to finish that.
He is well connected in Australia so who knows? Wasn’t that long ago that he
got 3rd in the Junior Worlds behind winner Eli Tomac, and that says something.
As our son Scott said; "So much natural talent!’ The SCMMC had set-up a wash bay area at the northern end of the pits. There was five waterblasters there and we were told to help ourselves - until along came a very angry man who told us told us to f--k off! Southern hospitality indeed? Back packing up, I asked Josh Coppins how he stayed on the bike. He flexed his bicep and with a big grin said "Yeah, it was sketchy!”
CHRISTCHURCH: Back to Christchurch next morning and through the process with Cera (Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority) to get our approval and ID cards to go into the Red Zone. The NZ Army still man the controlled entry. 185 people died there and it’s a scene of disbelief. Work on the removal of the Grand Chancellor is well advanced and we were told that only Rydges and Novotel ‘might’ survive. That beautiful Victoria Square, that lead across to the Town Hall and the Crown Plaza (was the Park Royal) is all overgrown and the ground all uplifted - a shambles. The 27 floor handsome Price Waterhouse building is soon to come down. Whilst the structure is fine the liquifaction had undermined the foundation block and big holes have appeared around the base. Many buildings have gone already and like I said 50,000 people worked there. To me, they are kidding themselves to think big business will come back and build. It was drizzling and cold, only 12C, unusual for Christchurch in Feb. We came away feeling very sad, not only for the people who’s lives, homes and businesses have been ruined but for Christchurch itself.
1985 my office was in that building to the left. Thousand of tourist flocked to the Square every day.
2012, my office was on the corner under the penthouse. I witnessed two suicides out of the Cathedral Tower until they put cages over the balconies which you can just see in the top photo. We were told they are going to pull the Cathedral down stone by stone.
This is what's left of the Hotel Grand Chancellor, now gutted out and coming down floor by floor. We flew back to Auckland arriving at 4.15pm, after 12C in Christchurch it was a humid 26C. A restless night followed, I couldn’t get the Red Zone out of my head. Alan
H. |
Race
1 and I was in my normal photo position with the field coming at me for the
holshot. I focus on the inside corner and in the noise and dust I saw BT101
(obscured behind #1 Cody Cooper) come in hot behind #909 Hamish Dobbyn and Cooper. 
