Summercross Day 2 - Seniors and VetsSign-on was from 7am and the pit area was choker. Less congestion around the sign-on area with all the food and ‘merchandising' in that area. All the ‘factory' teams are now in the first row of the paddock which gave them more room as well. No BT101 and no #99 Luke Burkhart either – has a wrist injury. His place in the near new CMR KTM Race Team was taken by Jayden Jessup sporting his usual #808. Great to see #912 Daryl Hurley back in action although he was riding MX2. At rider's briefing they were told that because of the conditions they would abandon the planned first round back-to-back format and revert to 20 minutes. The new left hander step-up jump at the end of the new section was out also. Over jump that and you are in big trouble. The 15 minutes of practice would consist of 5 mins then the green flag for qualifying times.
QUALIFYING Vets 35+ were first out and yes, it was going to be muddy as well as the squishy pumice sand. Awesome to watch the likes of Darryll King, Mike Cotter and Cam Negus attacking the new section, going double, double where they could. 45+ Vets were next and Commentator Neil Ritchie welcomed back the 2007 World 50+ Vet Champion Tony Cooksley, after his health scare. Tony was back first real competitive ride - back alright, 2nd fastest to Rob Sutherland. Youth MX. In the conditions it was the 125 2-stroke that was the bike to be on. I made the comment the day before that the Juniors were quick over the new section but some of these JMX (Junior 15 yrs to Under 21s) were just insane.
MX2 practice and two full start lines of 77 riders qualifying for that top 38. Lots of family and supporters for these riders - all eyes were on the track. Hard to get a decent lap in as there was yellow flags galore. The bikes were a mess, believe me I had the job of setting up the water blaster for son Scott.
V8 Supercar driver Shane van Gisbergen (aka SVG) had come in 60th – he did not like the mud after the dry of Queensland tracks. "Nothing to prove” he said laughingly and got changed out of his race gear. SVG's Queensland flatmate Josh Godwin was with him, many will remember Josh as a very capable Junior 125 rider around Auckland about three years ago. Bumped into Mitch Rowe who had his right leg in plaster – yet again. This time from the Greymouth Street Race where he broke ti/fib. He said he's now a 45+ Vet. Racing can be seen on this YouTube clip: MX1: The top 5 were visibly quicker and their qualifying times soon proved that. Great to see #6 back on the Yamaha. He was very relaxed in and around the pits.
RACING: I will now revert to each of the three races. Midway through Round 2 I had to put the camera away, it was just too wet. They merged the Youth MX and the MX2 Support for Round 2 with a split start. Support Classes results can be found on MyLaps: http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=620377
Vets 35+: Not too bad on the time schedule with Round 1 starting off with the +35s at 10:15. By now the drizzle was getting heavier. Darryll King led the way and in the conditions Mike Cotter had nothing for him. At lap 4 Cam Negus got past Cotter but that was shortlived. In Race 2 Cotter led for 4 laps but then DK was through to win by 24 seconds. By Race 3 the rain had really set in and the Northerly was now very strong. Cotter led out again but DK had him at Lap 2. This time the margin was much smaller – just 2.4 secs. Top 5 was:
Vets 45+: Rex Michau is the owner of Team DGB in England that is running John Phillips in MX2 and Kieran Scheele and Bjarne Frederickson in MX1 in 2011. He is down here for two weeks and was riding in the 45+ Vets. We had corresponded by email so I introduced myself to him in the assembly area for Race 1. He was 14th, stopped in Race 2 on the second lap when in 17th and I never saw him again. In Race 1 Rob Sutherland led Tony Cooksley. Tony even said afterwards he was riding a bit too tight. Once into it he was catching Sutherland but went down. He got going again but the gap was too great and Sutherland won by 28 seconds. Race 2 Cooksley led Sutherland all the way to win by 28 Secs. In Race 3 Cooksley and Sutherland were on equal points but Sutherland had a bad start. Cooksley was again up the inside and turned at the holeshot corner. As he did so his longtime friend Goudenz Gisler had other ideas and nearly took him out. Cooksley saw him coming across at the last instant and turned under to avoid a near certain collision. Cooksley led to the flag again by 14 secs from a hard charging Neil Potter. Sutherland was down in 5th so the day went to Cooksley – welcome back !
Talking Cooksley, he had a surprise visit in his pits from none other than 4 times World Enduro Champion Stefan Merriman. Stefan won Championship in 2000 (250cc), 2001 (400cc), 2003 (250cc) and 2004 (Enduro 1). He lives in Australia and in 2009 and 2010 rode for the top off road team Ballards Wellard Yamaha. He is back in NZ for his sister's wedding.
#2 Tony Cooksley charges for the corner in Race 2.
Youth MX: Race 1 they started a trend by starting on the very outside start gates and got the sprint up the grass. Ryan Thompson it was who was there first by a couple of bike lengths. In the sea of mud spray I could not see who it was who got the holeshot. New Rockstar Yamaha recruit Ethan Martens was in total control to win by 23 seconds. Don't know what happened to his younger brother Broc as he had qualified 6th but only finished one lap and we never saw him again. Race 2 was Ethan again but only 6.6 secs in front of Josh Jack. Race 3 it was Ethan again by 34 secs from a very happy Jacob Kneebone. Big ups to Ethan Martens, he surprised even me as to how well he rode.
MX2: From the outset it was Lamont, Groombridge, Dillon and Damien King. Hurlz was in 5th at Lap 2 then dropped down to 17th. Groombridge tried hard to catch Lamont but he was gone and won by 18.5 secs. Dillon was trying to catch Groombridge but ... There was 8 dnfs in the race including our son Scott who had a front brake seize and put him over the bars. Not a good race for Tom Managh either, going down twice.
#912 Hurley charges in Race 2. #808 is Jayden Jessup. Race 2 and Jayden Jessup led out until he put it down in the next lap. King seized the lead and stayed there. Lamont came through from 6th to 4th. At Lap 5 he was down to 14th and had lost a lap finishing 14th. Race 3 and King led out from Broxholme and Saunders. They both dropped down the order and by Lap 3 King had gone altogether. Where was Lamont ? did not even finish the first lap. I have to say again the conditions were horrid. Nobody was more surprised for the win than Jonathan Martelli who took it by 2.7 secs from Groombridge, Hurley and Broxholme. It ‘touched the heart' when Martelli said thanks to his parents and said "love you guys.” ed So the Top 10 was:
MX1: I don't think anybody was quite ready for the way Mike Phillips rode, although there was big similarities with his home-track at Rotorua. He also won it last year but in the dry. He led from start to finish winning by 30 seconds from Justin McDonald and Hayden Clark. Josh was down at 12th having gone down in the new section and went well to finish 6th. Good starts by the two Team DGB England newbies, Scheele in 6th and Frederickson in 8th. They finished 8th and 11th respectively. ilabbs Matt Saunders surprised himself with a 13th.
#6 Coppins, #1 McDonald and #310 Clark, #15 Gillard about to get trounced by Mason Wilkie on extreme right.
#6 Coppins goes straight ahead whilst Wilkie and Phillips turn in under him.
Shaun Fogarty about to overcook the corner with Blake Gillard right behind him.
Race 2 and #2 Coops from #6 Coppins. The bike upside down is (I believe) Lee Wilson - he was not hurt. Race 2 and it was Phillips again but this time by 11 secs from Cody Cooper, just over a second to Josh Coppins, 14 secs to Justin McDonald and 1.5 to Hayden Clark. Race 3. Good to see the 2009 MX1 Champion Justin McDonald out front and stay there to the end. 5.6 secs back was Cody Cooper, 1 sec to Josh Coppins, 7 to Shaun Fogarty and 2 to Michael Phillips who had come through from 11th at Lap 1. Hayden Clark was looking good, started out in 4th but at Lap 1 was down at 20th. He fought his way back to 9th. Blake Gillard went down and ended up under the bike in water between two jumps – he pulled out, said he was over it - the thought of drowning crossed his mind ! Kiwi Rider's Ollie Sharp had had a good day on the YZ450 test bike that he had ridden at Wanganui on Boxing Day in the SuperMoto. He finished 9th overall. So, the Top 10 was :
This This is who the crowdT
This is who many of us came to see - Josh Coppins. |
