What happened to Cooper & Columb at Conondale? Aboard Motul Pirelli Suzuki team's fuel injected 2012 RM-Z450 in Conondale's opening round of the Australian Motocross Championship on Sunday, Cody Cooper finished eighth overall in a frustrating start to the season, vowing to improve when the series continues in two weeks time at Coonabarabran. Cooper concluded the weekend with a 6-12-7 scorecard. Cody Cooper: "Qualifying was good and I felt good, but in the first two motos I got bad starts," Cooper explained. "In the third one I gated out wider and it was much better, so I came out off the start in second. I drifted back to seventh though, just over-heated really, but it was a tough race physically. I don't have much to say really - I need to step it up and go better next time out."  An 11th-hour call up for Kiwi MX2 number two Scott Columb (pictured left at NZ's Patetonga Round 2 - image Alan H),
saw him travel to Australia as Motul Pirelli Suzuki's MX2 class
contender, replacing injured British rider Steven Clarke for the season.
Columb took 15-10-DNF results for 15th overall after suffering a flat
tyre in the final outing, displaying promising form on the RM-Z250
before his bad luck struck. Scott Columb: "I flew in on Saturday so it was a bit of a rush, being my first time on the bike here in Australia. In race one and two I had terrible starts, crashed on the first lap of moto one and finished 15th. I had a bit of arm-pump and finished 10th in the second moto. And then in the third moto I got a better start and was in third. Unfortunately I got a flat tyre, so it wasn't the perfect start to the series, but the last race showed that I can be up the front and I'll take the positives from that." Their team-mate, Queenslander Todd Waters, raced to a podium position in his debut. The 21-year-old Cairns rider scored 4-4-4 results in the trio of motos to finish third overall for the round and top Australian contender behind New Zealanders Ben Townley and Josh Coppins. Todd Waters: "It's definitely where we want to be; we want to try and land on that podium every single round and try to be consistent. I finished with three fourth places today, which is what we need. I got good starts all day and they made my job easy. When I came through juniors and the Under 19s I was always pretty consistent and that was my strength, but I kind of lost that when I jumped on the 450. I just wanted to win races, but I ended up on my head a lot, so now I just want to cross that finish line with good points every single time." The series will continue at Coonabarabran, New South Wales, in a two-day event on April 14-15th.  Todd Waters Base copy and images courtesy of Team Suzuki Press Office |