Edited copy courtesy of Colin Smith from the Bay of Plenty Times.
Thursday's weather forecast gave no warning of a cyclone racing out of North Queensland and making a direct hit on Papamoa. It's name was Jackson Richardson and the 16-year-old from Cairns was actually making an escape from the torrential rain at home to do some dirt-bike racing.
Richardson rode to victory in a fiercely contested Lites (250cc) class at the NZ Supercross Open held at the new Leading Edge facility at Poplar Lane Thursday evening.
The four-time Australian Junior Champ was racing at his first senior event. He arrived on Wednesday and hadn't ridden a Kawasaki before practice yesterday. In an impressive performance, the youngster scored two wins and two seconds from four heats and claimed the Lites honours in front of Yamaha rider Ethan Martens (Waitakere) who had cleaned up the Youth MX class two days earlier at Whakatane's Summercross.
Richardson's best move came in the final half lap of Race 3. He fought back through the field and went from fourth to second in one move, then came within a few centimetres of edging Martens for the win.
The Australian has a three-race US campaign looming in March but bad weather in North Queensland has meant no opportunity to race or train.
"It has just rained and rained at home," Richardson said. "I'm an apprentice carpenter and I couldn't work and I couldn't ride. I was just sitting at home."
His father, Peter, was scanning a motocross website when he saw a story about Josh Coppins winning the opening round of the NZ champs and then researched more about Kiwi motocross. He found a calendar that offered the opportunity to contest six races in just over a J is Jackson Richardson. Photo: Colin Smith fortnight, decided it seemed great value and made inquiries.
That landed Richardson on the 250cc Kawasaki of injured NZ Supercross Lites champ and Leading Edge track developer Mason Phillips.
"I came here to get to my first senior racing and I would have been happy to finish on the podium so I'm really happy," said Richardson. "I was probably a bit lucky with Brad (Groombridge) crashing. He was riding good and we were having some battles."
The Open class racing produced a popular home win for Papamoa's Cody Cooper ahead of Josh Coppins and Tuesday's Summercross winner, Mike Phillips.
"The first race was good but in the second I pushed too hard and I got arm pump. I had to relax," said Cooper. "I can ride Supercross well because of my corner speed. But the track was so slick that you could only go a certain speed in the corners."
Coppins was the star attraction but did something unheard of - he crashed four times in the opening race. "I can't remember the last time I did that and it won't happen ever again hopefully," he said. "I was disgusted with myself."
Cooper versus Coppins in the 'man on man' SX Challenge. Josh takes a tumble and home-boy Cody gets the win. Head's up on this video courtesy of Matt Taylor from NZ Supercross Open - Nocturnal Acceleration.
Showing his professionalism after a five-minute break between heats, Coppins cleared out to win with a mistake-free ride.
"I knew if I won all three I still had a chance so I went extra hard in the third race." That saw Coppins right on Cooper's tail but unable to pass. "I was faster than him but I knew the only way I could pass him would be to knock him off the track and I didn't want to do that," said Coppins. "The event was good. For the first time I think they can be really happy."
MyLaps results courtesy of Nicole Bol from MX Timing (NZ) Ltd
