Round 2 of the NZ Senior MX Nats at Patetonga this Sunday This is the third consecutive, and final time, the Senior MX Nationals will be held in the current Nationals allocation. The Championship is the showcase of Motocross in NZ and three classes are National Championships, under the jurisdiction of Motorcycling NZ. The premier class is MX1 which is the
domain of the biggest motocross bikes at 450cc. After Round 1 at Timaru two weeks ago the leader board was
headed by Ben Townley (Tauranga) on 75
points, followed by Josh Coppins (Motueka) on 66, Justin McDonald (Christchurch) 56, Cody
Cooper (Mt Maunganui) on 55 and Michael Phillips (Rotorua) on
46. Hamish
Dobbyn (Warkworth) also on 46. 27 year old Townley’s credentials are 2004 MX2 FIM World Champion and then he was 3rd in MX1 in 2005. He moved to the USA and won the East Coast Lites (250cc) Supercross title in 2007. A string of injuries is now behind him and he is in devastating form. Coppins returned to NZ last year after a 12 year career in the GPs of Europe. Coppins was 2nd in the 2002, then 250cc World Championship and in 2005, he finished 2nd to Stefan Everts in the MX1 Championship. During the 2007 MX1 World Championship Coppins built a 100 point lead in the Championship, only to break his shoulder blade in the 12th round forcing him out and ending his title hopes. Same in Australian last season when he crashed over a downed rider and broke his shoulder. Numerous operations later, he too is back to full form. McDonald is a builder during the week but has ridden in Australia and the USA. Cooper is the current Champion and races professionally both here and in Australia. He too had a stint in the USA with quite some success. Phillips also rides semi-professionally when not working on the family farm or coaching. He also rides in the Australian Championship. MX2 is for 250cc machines be they 4-stroke or 2-stroke. This class is stacked with talent both young and ‘mature’. Scott Columb (Queenstown) holds the lead on 69 points. 43 year old Darryll King (Hamilton) 67, Daryl Hurley (Hawera) 63. Those 3 have many, many titles to their name. Hurley is just back after a 2 year injury break. 4th is Rhys Carter (Mt Maunganui) 56 and 5th Ethan Martens (Waitakerei) 46. The 125 Class is made up of Under 21s and Overs. Predominantly Juniors the series is led by 16 year old Micah McGoldrick (Rangiora) on a perfect score of 75. Cameron Vaughan (Rotorua) on 62, Logan Blackburn (Tauranga) 60. There is a MX3 support class for riders
wishing to be part of the action.
Those numbers will be bolsted by those not qualifying in the
Championship Classes. To qualify riders must achieve a minimum lap time of 115% of the average lap time from
riders placed 2nd to 12th. At
Timaru there was 10 non qualifiers. Racing commences at 10.30 preceded by practice and qualifying.
|
