Tony Cooksley is back on the bike

"I’m really excited to be back on the bike” said the 56 year old "I have been looking forward to this."  It was the same bike that he had crashed on and the same track. 

 

Tony has been racing for 38 years, with a career highlight of winning the FIM 2007 World Veteran Motocross Championship.  

 

"The Pukekohe Club’s track had undergone some changes whilst all the gorse had been removed.  I had done a look lap and was on the second to last loop, heading towards the State Highway.  Two riders were in front of me so I dived to the left to pass them.  What I hadn’t seen was a drain that had been cut into the bank at 90 degrees and next thing I know I’m up on my front wheel heading fast into the steep sand berm. The bike drove me into that berm and that’s all I remember!”

 

The high speed momentum ‘blew’ him over the top. Most of the impact was to his left side and the bike carried on into the scrub for some distance. 

 

After a week in the HDU it was revealed how bad his injuries actually were.

• Severe concussion – his Airoh helmet was smashed at the top and back.       
• Two broken vertebrae in his neck. Left collarbone broken in two places.
• Left shoulder blade broken into six pieces.
  
• All left side ribs ‘popped’ with two of them broken.

 

The one thing in Tony’s favour was his physical fitness, mainly through the nature of his 'hands-on' business as a concrete cutter. He had good upper body muscle mass so the Surgeons elected not to operate at all as the surrounding muscle was holding the breakages in place.  

 

What he had to endure was two months of intense pain.  Tony, being Tony, he did 90% of it without pain relief.

 

His enthusiasm to get back on the bike has been tempered by the fact that he’s about to head for Europe as Manager of the New Zealand Team at the Motocross of Nations at Lommel in Belgium on September 31st. 

 

There were big numbers at the Mercer Practice so he left it until later in the day. Being a sand track Mercer becomes very rough with deep holes and square edged bumps. Couple of quiet laps and he was soon attacking the sand berms.

 

Tony Cooksley back in action.  Photo and thumbnail courtesy of Phil Smith - http://clmintiepix.photoshelter.com

"That was great”, Tony enthused "but you forget how physically demanding it is.”

 

So where-to-from-here?  When Tony returns from Europe his YZ450 will be sold and replaced with his favourite – a YZ250 2-stroke. 

 

Alan Henderson

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