NZ Senior MX Champs – final round at Taupo

Sunday:  0630-0730 sign-on and no MNZ Steward. After the Steward debacle at Pukekohe, MX Commissioners Bryan Davidson and Chris Broadhead invited Andrew Roigard to attend as Steward. MNZ sent Roigard a letter and said no, that John Tootell was the MNZ Steward. No Tootell at sign-on, yes there were Day Licences required, so Roigard took over. Tootell duly arrived, there was ‘words’ between them and Roigard was told by Tootell that he would not work with him. Roigard was now without a job but being the good bloke he is, he donned a high vis vest and went off to help the Club. John Tootell’s a nice guy too but politics?

Rider’s briefing and riders were told they would water between rounds and if necessary the Championship races would get a look lap. Taupo’s irrigation system is the use of tankers – one a truck and two on trailers towed by tractors.

The big gossip in the pits was that Ben Townley was going to Chad Reed’s Two Two Motorsports. A deal had been done with the Carlton Dry Thor Honda Team and he would skip the Aussie Championship. It was supposed to be under wraps as the final detail had not been sorted but that was until Neil Ritchie announced it and BT101 confirmed it from the podium later in the day.

Cam Dillon was back in MX2 after his short break, after coming back too soon from a bang on the head. He was feeling good and looking forward to racing on his home track.

Daryl Hurley was also back in MX2. He had picked up a virus from his daughter and had been vomiting for 10 days. He said he ‘felt like death’ for those 10 days and had lost weight.

Interesting that Matt Hunt had elected to ride MX1 and the 125 Class.

Practice / Qualifying

125 Class were first out and no Cam Negus. His crash at the Pukekohe round had resulted in not only busted ribs but also a compressed spine. Shame as he would have gone well at Taupo especially when it got rough. Would certainly have showed off the Husqvarna. Local lad Hadleigh Knight was in fastest spot but at Lap 6 Micah McGoldrick went 2 seconds faster.

They had a DJ on the hill and right through Practice / Qualifying his music was booming out and you simple could not hear Neil Ritchie. Yes, music adds atmosphere but at this hour there was few public there and very un-necessary during Practice / Qualifying. At MXoN in France it was twice as loud but not once did it interfere with the commentary – not that I could understand all the French.

MX2 were next and Aussie Codie Mackie had finally appeared. At Lap 10 he was 0.289 of a second faster than Rhys Carter. The Top 8 was Darryll King (DK), Dillon, Hurley, Fogarty, Leigh, Martens, Columb and John Phillips.

MX3 were next and there was 23 entries in this support class - riders just opting to have a run.

MX1 were last out and at Lap 4 Townley was a whopping 3.7 seconds faster. There was two number 6 circulating!! Both Jesse Donnelly – the faster one was of course Josh Coppins. That quickly changed.

Mitch Rees was back after his wrist injury and was straight into 10th fastest. Mitch’s parents.  Tony and Vicki, were certainly the centre of attention after it had been announced late last week that as at 12 April they will become Whakatane’s Honda Dealership. The long time Yamaha rider and progressive dealer said whilst he loved the Yamaha product and brand, it was a business decision. Darren Capill used to work for them but left to manage the Honda shop so will be without a job.  My personal opinion is that ever since they started running Yamaha from Australia there has been much disatisfaction amongst the dealers.

There had been a very cold wind throughout that near 2 hour session but now the sun was out and it was warming up.

SportPro’s Ian Standring and Reece McLeod were there next to the Suzuki ZNZ Moto City set-up. They had the new Fox Instinct boot on display and the Fox V4 helmet - very nice they are too. Darren Capill was wearing a pair of the boots in the red / white combination and he was full of praise for them.

Kinda funny, everywhere you looked there was somebody sporting an injury. Either on crutches, in moon-boots, arm in a sling or in plaster. Not funny for them though.

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Round 1: Set to go and as previously warned at briefing there was a short delay for watering.

MX3 were first up and yep it was sloppy in places but not too bad. The pumice sand is a bit like that new word in our vocabulary - liquifaction – just sandy slop. There was now 25 in the class with a couple of non qualifiers. Darren Capill led from start to finish, but it looked to me like Ben Lightfoot got the holeshot. Capes winning by 14secs from Logan Comer. Tony Cooksley was 11th at Lap 1, crashed in Lap 4 and finished 16th.

For the holeshot they had the markers well around the corner on the straightaway and SignOn’s Bevan Weal was using an iPad to video it. Couple of close calls and it’s frame by frame facility came in very handy. Check the straight line?

125: Hadleigh Knight led out with none other than Matt Hunt with him. Michah McGoldrick was there in 3rd. The sawdust section was looking very tough after 30 minutes of MX1’s 450s ploughing it up. Cameron Vaughan had not had the greatest of starts but was at 6th at Lap 1. McGoldrick went on to win by 2.6secs from Hunt and another 4secs back to Vaughan. Knight had hung on for 4th and then 37secs back to Ryan Thompson. Blackburn was down in 8th.

MX2: Nice holeshot from DK coming across the bows of all those on the very inside. Dillon had enough speed to almost match him around the inside. Fogarty nearly tangled with DK’s back wheel. That's Mind-the-Gaps Tim Gould filming on the inside.

Columb was well back and only 8th at Lap 1 having had an ‘oopsie’ at the triple out the back. At Lap 1 it was Dillon from DK. Peter Broxholme was down in 26th. With such a talented class it was hard to keep up with what was going on. You couldn’t rely on Neil Ritchie as he was still being drowned out by the bloody music. Haki Waller never finished the second lap having a huge crash in the sawdust. Dillon led for 5 laps until DK took over. Broxy was now down at 36th! At Lap 8 visiting Ausssie Cody Mackie was into 3rd, then two laps later he was down in 6th. Ethan Martens Yamaha was smoking having split an oil line. 24 minutes later it was all over. DK, Dillon, Fogarty, Carter, Lamont, Mackie, Hurley, then 17secs to Columb in 8th. That now gave DK a lead of 13 points. Martens 250 died at the line but he still collected 9 points for his 12th place.

MX1: Mike Phillips looked to have the holeshot but BT101 had the speed on the inside with Cooper behind him. Campbell Bailey was outside of them and would have been judged 3rd with McDonald behind him.

Further into the lap Cooper was behind BT101 but the distance kept extending. Mike Phillips was next but by Lap 7 Josh Coppins was past him. McDonald was down in 11th at Lap 1 but was 7th at Lap 2. Hamish Dobbyn was at 8th, got up to 7th and stayed there. Going into the last lap BT101 was 47secs ahead. He finished 43 ahead of Cooper and another 23 to Coppins. It was 13 to Mike Phillips and 7 to Justin.

I caught up with MX Timing’s Nicole Bol. She said that the ‘live timing’ for Pukekohe/Harrisville round was viewed by 660 and 115 listened to the live commentary.

I asked Nicole about the transponder that was destroyed in Tom Hughe’s bike fire at Patetonga. She said that it was not covered by insurance and as per the ‘hire conditions’ they have to pay for a replace it or pay for the replacement. Out of Australia that is now NZ$650. Nicole said Tom’s dad (Huggy) had offered their own as a replacement. MX Timing would in turn, sponsor Tom for one year.

I actually offered Tom’s dad Andrew (aka Huggy) to use Moto-Media to set up a fundraiser for him. He declined the offer saying; "Motox is full of hard luck stories and it wouldn’t feel right asking for money from our fellow riders, as it cost us all enough money already.”

Fair enough but Tom was about to have another shocker day with two DNFs due to clutch failure, even thought he bike had a new clutch on the Friday. In the last race, using borrowed parts, it still faded and then he got a flat tyre.

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Round 2: It’s now 12:30pm. I realise you can now hear Neil Ritchie!!

MX3: This time it’s Ryan Knight for 2 laps then Capill takes over and goes on to win by 12:5 secs. Aiden McBridie was 9 secs back in 3rd. Another bad start for Cooksley who had some hard work to do from down at 14th at Lap 1 – he came home 7th. In the MX3 Championship, although not an ‘official’ NZ title, Cooksley had 227 points and Matt Coombe 220. One moto to go so it’s going to be close.

125: #91 Hadleigh Knight is right on the holeshot line. McGoldrick was well back when the gates drop but he got a flyer up the inside and at the turn was into 3rd.

Bottom of Centre Point, Hunt takes the lead and stays there for 3 laps. At Lap 4 McGoldrick is through but Hunt stays with him. Right now I’m betting that Hunt wishes he had gone 125 at Timaru where he got 2 puctures in MX1. Now in National 125 he’s really the only one to give McGoldrick a run for his money. He charges on the last 300 metres and comes within 0.361 of a second. Vaughan is almost 21 secs back, Blackburn another 12. That gives McGoldrick a 36 point lead over Vaughan, so the Championship is his.

MX2: It’s Dillon again but only just from Mackie on the outside, John Phillips and Kayne Lamont with DK having been 'stood up' (almost recovered here) but only a bike wheel back. Carter is in behind Lamont and Columb is outside of him.

DK is through before the sawdust but as they exit left Carter is on the inside and puts DK into the bank, where he bounces off and looses very little time. I wrote in my notes; "Big mistake Rhys!” Phillips is down in 12th? Next thing it’s Carter, DK, Hurley, Dillon, Fogarty and Mackie. Mackie was to DNF that lap and next time around DK has dropped to 5th after another crash. Scott Columb is up to third having worked his way up from 9th after attempting a jump "that no-one was doing.” He said "I got it wrong and went down, losing my rhythm but got back to 2nd.” Busy class and hard to keep up with. Carter wins by 4.7secs from DK who is 4secs back. So how’s the Championship looking? DK has 241 points and Scott Columb 230.

MX1: BT101 took the holeshot, despite a brave move by Justin McDonald with Nick Saunders outside of him. Actually looking at the pics Saunders was lucky that McDonald never took him out as his rear end was on a big slide.

Townley led all the way and McDonald held 2nd for only one lap. Cooper was 2nd, some 13secs back and McDonald 3rd, another 57secs back. Coppins was back in 5th, into Lap 6, a deflating tyre caused the front end to wash out. The subsequent crash left him with sore ribs. Hamish Dobbyn had a DNF after just one lap. He’d crashed and hurt his knee. Townley had 35 points over Coppins so he too had wrapped up the Championship with one Moto to go.

By this time the sawdust section was super rough. The holes were huge. The tabletop in the centre of it, didn’t allow the riders to launch into the second sawdust section like it used to. The front three were getting huge air but there was some rather wild landings.  This is Ben Townley. 

Mike Phillips had a very close call when he got 90 degrees right but stayed on the bike – just.

I caught up with Carl Sorenson who had helped rebuild the Supercross Section at Harrisville. Carl has been waiting on the Auckland SuperCity approval to build and run a Motocross Park on Price’s Road, Puhinui - south/east of the Auckland International Airport. The original deal was done with Manukau City a couple of years ago but the Resource Consent has been held up due to the Council’s merger. Carl was saying other sports in the assigned park (Karting, BMX and Offroad) have funding that expires at the end of this month. The ‘earthmoving season’ will be over then too so it will be October before he’s even allowed in there. Carl rang me on Tuesday morning and said he’d been told by the new Council that it was all go so he’ll be in there by Christmas. That is good news for Auckland – a 7 days a week training facility.

Whilst all this was going on they were grooming the start area for the Final Round. A Bob-Cat fitted neatly behind the gates and was able to scrape and fill the start grooves behind the gates.

With a ‘no tools’ rule behind the gate and ‘no grooming’ in front of the gate, it was interesting to watch the riders at all levels. I observed several who would wait until the two ‘guards’ turned and a foot would quickly come out and make an adjustment – cunning stuff.

One other observation was that as a MNZ affiliated Club we (Pukekohe MCC) had been told that ‘track crew and Medics’ riding 4-wheelers had to wear a helmet. Puke only used one, opting for machines with roll cages. There was at least 3 at Taupo, no helmets and at times zooming about the track inner.

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Round 3: They put on a lot of water for Round 3 and MX3 bore the brunt of it. Hardly necessary on the start straight and first corner which was slop.  However, it was nothing compared to Pukekohe's Round 1 where the water had been left on inadvertently and flooded the section running from holeshot corner.

I am going to get in trouble here but to me, the Taupo round kinda lacked atmosphere. Whether it’s because the pits and the spectators can spread out or what, I don’t know but there I’ve said it. In terms of proximity to town and accomodation it’s the very best.

MX3: It’s now 2:40pm. Capill and Knight led out and this time Cooksley was about 7th. These were only 6 lap races so riders had to be on the ball. Capill went on to win by 13 secs from Knight. Capill won the round by 25 points but it was the only round he contested. Cooksley was 5th on the day and his only Championship rival Coombes, was down in 12th. Cooksley’s 7 point lead in the Championship had now gone out to 14 points. Taupo elected not to podium the class or pay holeshot money like Pukekohe did but the Championship Overalls would be acknowledge at Prizegiving that night. – same trophies as the title classes. Look to see Cooksley back on the YZ250 2-stroke any time soon.

The remaining classes would get a look lap, not because of the water but because of the evolving changes on the track. The shape of the rollers had changed, the berms had changed, the dual option corners had certainly changed and the ‘holes’ in the sawdust were huge.

125 Class:

125 holeshot. With the Championship in the bag, McGoldrick was behind the front row. #918 Callan May, #200 Sean O’Connor is about to hit the deck, #808 is Cameron Vaughan and #10 Logan Blackburn.

At the holeshot line it was Blackburn who got to the line first and and by the narrowest of margins took the money. He led for 4 laps before McGoldrick came through and a lap later Vaughan was into 2nd. Jacob Kneebone was in 5th at Lap 1 and a lap later was 13th – Taupo. Ryan Thompson was in 12th and then disappeared. McGoldrick won by 10secs from Vaughan. It was 8 to Blackburn and 18 to Matt Hunt who had worked his way through.

                                             Micah's last lap board by Ant Sproull                National 125 and 125 Under 21s

Championship podium was: McGoldrick 294, Vaughan 252, Blackburn 213.

Congratulations to Micah and his coach/mentor Ant Sproull. Micah flies out today to Australia. He’s going to contest the Aussie Under 19’s Championship in a deal done by CMR Red Bull KTM’s Cannon Smith with KTM Australia’s Jeff Leisk. Micah will stay with Josh Cachia and race at 8 of the 9 rounds – NZ Juniors Champs clashes with one of the Aussie rounds.

Editor comment: 12 months ago who had heard of Cameron Vaughan (Yamaha)? He had an excellent Championship and whilst he finished 39 points behind Micah (KTM) he was 40 ahead of Logan Blackburn (Yamaha). That’s both 125 Class and Under 21s. Not to take anything away from Micah, but Cameron was my pick of the championship as ‘developing rider’.

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MX2: This was the last of 12 races. DK has 241 points and Scott Columb 230.

DK had the holeshot nicely with Phillips (obscured) a wheel back inside him. Columb came in too hot and took evasive action from hitting DK and would he save it?

Columb was lucky to get out of this without being taken out.  He finished Lap 1 in 31st position and the rode back to the pits.

Next day, Columb told Catherine Pattison of the Otago Daily Times that while tussling for the lead, King cut him off, forcing him back down the pack and when another rider crashed in front of him, (Broxy) Columb had nowhere to go but into him - wrecking his front brakes and forcing him to pull out of the race.

The order of DK, Phillips, Dillon, Fogarty, Hurley, Mackie and Leigh remained the same to the flag with Mackie getting past Hurley into Lap 5. DK won it by 2:5 secs to Phillips, 12 to Dillon, o.2 to Fogarty, 1 to Mackie, 26 to Hurley. And 5 to Leigh.

Taupo Round 4

2nd  Cameron Dillon 58pts

Overall Championship

     Taupo round's MX2 podium and DK gets drenched all in good fun. L to R: 2nd Cam Dillon, 1st Darryll King, 3rd  Rhys Carter.

DK's (and Damien's) Mum and Dad were there.  Touching moment when his Mum gave him a big hug before he even got off the bike.  

DK plans to head to Australia and the United States before heading to Europe to finish out the year. He is going to ride Conondale and Coonabarabran, riding a YZ450 in the Open Class/MX1. Then he is off to the USA and plans to do few rounds of the AMA Nationals and ready himself for the FIM Veterans Motocross World Cup which is a week’s racing finishing with the GP of Great Britain. It’s being held at Matterley Basin, in England (Winchester) on 19 August.

Editor comment: This class was stacked with talent, young and not-so-young. Even beyond the Top 20 there was very talented riders. Another season gone and DK is still the MX2 benchmark, winning the Championship by 36 points. Burkhart was strong at Timaru but it was all over because of his wrist. Columb had his chances but neither he nor Broxy delivered at Taupo. Dillon is local and rides Taupo very, very fast. Good to see Hurley in the class and when not sick, was a podium. Fogarty went well but Timaru got him off to a bad start points wise. Carter, Martens, Jessup, Leigh and Lamont all had the moments in the sun but my pick of the championship as ‘developing rider’ is John Phillips. His comeback from a lacerated liver has not been easy but he pressured DK in Race 3 at Taupo - yes, Carter bet him in R2. His 12 months stint in England last year with Rex Michau’s Dirt-Bike Gym MX Team is proof that it works. John will ride Lites (MX2) in the Australian Championship.

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MX1: It’s now 3:52 and this is the very last race of the championship. It will also be Ben Townley’s first senior national title - the first one he went for was back in 2000.

The gate dropped and Townley (#101) was gone with Nick Saunders (#100), Cooper (#1 for the last time in 2012),  McDonald (#201), Coppins (behind Cooper) and Phillips (#105).

The Top 5 were getting massive air through the sawdust whilst the others rode through it enduro style. Two laps later and Coppins was into 3rd. Into Lap 5 and McDonald and Phillips were battling.

Phillips survived a massive highside, here is what he had to say: "With about 4 laps to go I squared off a berm and tried to show Justin a wheel down the next straight. I was close to the side of the track but I held it on. I should have backed off a little as my back wheel clipped a tyre marking the track and it sent me sideways. I went down hard. I was okay but the bike had seen better days.” By the end of the lap he had only dropped 4 places.

Mikey P's highside as captured on film by Tim Gould (aka Mind-the-Gap) - view at 4:31 minutes www.moto-media.net/?id=1679 

The riders were now very spread. Townley went on to win having lapped up to 8th place. It was 27secs to Cooper, 68 to Coppins, 15 to McDonald and 26 to Groombridge. It was Coopers best round despite still having problems with starts but he was able to capitalise by taking the inside line. A second place finish in every moto today was aided by stiffening up his suspension for the final two motos. He was happy to have 10 points over Coppins. They both now look forward to the Aussie Nats at Conondale in Queensland on 01 April. Coops laughingly told Commentator Neil Ritchie "I’m quite happy to see Ben bugger-off to the USA.” He was of coure referring to the Australian MX Nationals.

Taupo Round 4

Overall Championship

Mike Phillips is now in Australia testing with his new team MX Factory Honda Thor Racing before the first round of the Aussie Championship.

Editor comment: Every adjective that can be said about Ben Townley has been said – say no more. Coppins was still on the come-back but didn’t really ‘click’ at Taupo. He was sore in the ribs after R2. Cooper’s best round was Taupo. Both Coppins and Cooper are ready for Australia. McDonald and Mike Phillips are the next level down but a level ahead of the rest. Lots of experience and talent in MX1 this year and the addition of Townley and Coppins made it more interesting. Shame that BT101 won by such big margins but that’s the huge talent of the 27 year old.

I will stick my neck out and say that my pick of the MX1 Championship is Hamish Dobbyn - pictured above. He dropped points at Taupo with his Race 2 DNF and finished 6th overall. He should have been in amongst McDonald and Phillips points. When he was on song he was in amongst the Top 3. At Timaru and Patetonga he holeshot Townley. He works a 50 hour week as a builder and was on a stock bike. He did not get 3rd in the 2009 Junior World’s for nought. He has come-back from 7 operations on his knee over two years. He has more ‘raw talent’ than any other rider in NZ. Where to from here? – wait and see?

Prizegiving was in Taupo central at The Shed. They had problems with noise because they left it until 9:05pm. Waste of time complaining, they should have done it earlier as many were well liquored at that stage.

Geoff Hall has been the President of Taupo for 21 years. He is an Electrical Engineer and taken up a position in Western Australia earning the big money. Emma Davis had put together a slide show including a notable jump start where he gets hung up and falls off the bike. We saw it at least 5 times, much to the amusement of the large crowd. 21 years is a long time and the tributes flowed, finished off by kind words from Ben Townley.

At our bar table a young lady complimented Josh Coppins on his trophy and #2 plate. He passed them to her and said, "they’re yours!” You would have thought he had given her a gold watch! Wouldn’t have minded them myself!! Haha but true!

Finally. Best Championship in years. Hard to separate the venues as all very different and they brought it up a level from last year. The Club organisers conference calls with Bryan Davidson certainly worked. The two weeks between Timaru and Pate worked better than the one week last year. All the Clubs did an awesome job of running their event. Neil Ritchie does an awesome job. Townley, Coppins and Cooper were the star attractions. MX2 was the best and closest racing – DK is a machine. 125 was the youngsters shining through especially McGoldrick - I was told he’s even faster on the 250. MX3 is an interesting work in progress and built momentum so 2013 will see lots more entries.

The excellent ilabb and Mind-the-Gap videos have gone viral all over the MX world and will do NZ’s Motocross plenty of good.

Lachie Columb is the new ‘sounding board’ for rider input so if you have ideas etc make sure you tell him. Email: lachiecolumb101@hotmail.com or Facebook: http://facebook.com/columb101

This was a marathon effort, 4500 words, hope you enjoyed the read. Alan H.