Cooper Stamps his Authority

Waikato MX Champs

NOVEMBER 9, 2015: Bay of Plenty's Cody Cooper has the No.1 emblazoned across his bright red Honda CRF450 motocross bike for a very good reason.

He's fabulously fast, smooth and stylish and he gets winning results for his Waikato-based Honda Racing Team.

So it was business as usual for the 32-year-old in his first major outing of the new season at the weekend, racing at the two-day Waikato Motocross Championships near Te Kuiti.

The national MX1 champion from Mount Maunganui exploded out of the start gate and was simply untouchable as he dominated Sunday's senior racing with an impressive hat-trick of wins, fending off challenges from Hamilton's fellow Kiwi international Josiah Natzke, Hamilton's Jesse Wiki and Taupo's national MX1 No.5 Brad Groombridge in the process.

"I'm pretty happy with my day," said Cooper afterwards.

"I'm normally a little bit off the pace at this track, but I have had a whole week of training and arrived here today having done some good build-up work. In terms of preparation for the upcoming nationals, I think I'm ahead of where I was at the same time last season.

"I didn't feel great on the bike for the first race," said Cooper, who seemed comfortable in winning nonetheless. "We changed the suspension settings a bit and it was awesome for the second and third races.

"My next big event is to race the Auckland Motocross Championships (near Pukekohe on December 5-6) and I hope they can prepare the track there as well as the North King Country Motorcycle Club did for us here. I loved this track today, especially all the deep ruts.

"I think there are a few more international riders coming over to tackle  the New Zealand Motocross Championships this season (starting at Timaru on February 7), but I don't feel any extra pressure to defend my title.

"If I prepare well, then I'll be fine. The Waikato Motocross Championships were a good workout for me and I pushed myself quite hard. My build-up is going to plan."

Cooper's result in the MX1 class was perhaps inspiration also for his young team-mate Trent Collins, the Cambridge rider finishing fourth equal overall in the highly-charged MX2 (250cc) class on Sunday.

Two-class hero Natzke won the MX2 class on Sunday, finishing the day ahead of Taupo brothers Cohen and Wyatt Chase, with another dual-class ironman, Groombridge, sharing fourth overall with Collins.

Collins had won the junior 14-16 years' 250cc class the previous day and impressed by backing that up with another solid showing on Sunday.

Wyatt Chase had won the junior 15-16 years' 125cc class on Saturday.

The Honda Racing Team is supported by Blue Wing Honda, Motul, Dr Trim, Pirelli, NDub Designs, DRC, Zeta, Alpinestars, 100% goggles, Bell helmets, Yoshimura, Twin Air, Talon, Renthal, Supersprox, Hinson Clutch, Raceengines.com, Tsubaki chains, EBC Brakes, Diesel Mechanical, Picton Auto Electrical, Vortex ignition and EZE products.

Credit: Words  by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com