“
Never underestimate me!” – Those were
the words of warning from the mouth of
Bay of Plenty’s Cody Cooper after he
completely dominated the day at round one of
the 2020 New Zealand Motocross Championships
at Balclutha in the first weekend in February.
Wise words indeed... after all, he’s got the No.1
emblazoned on the front and sides of his bright
red Honda CRF450 bike for a reason... he’s
currently the best MX1 motocross racer in the
country and has been for many years.
He suffered a freak training crash a month earlier
and was obviously still struggling with his neck
injury when he raced at the Honda New Zealand
Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville a week before
the Balclutha event, finishing that weekend an
unaccustomed fourth overall in the MX1 class and
giving rise to speculation that he might be unable
to defend his crown.
But there was no evidence of his hurting at
Balclutha. In fact, it was Mount Maunganui’s
Cooper “putting the hurt” on his rivals in south
Otago that day.
The 36-year-old Cooper is chasing his eighth
national title in the premier grade and his hat-trick
of wins in the MX1 class at Balclutha certainly
silenced any doubters, his maximum points haul
giving him a solid 11 points advantage over visiting
Australian professional Kirk Gibbs (Yamaha), with
the Woodville winner, Auckland’s Hamish Harwood
(KTM), third overall for the weekend, an additional
two points further back.
Cooper comfortably won both the first two MX1
races at Balclutha, but he had to work harder in
the third and final outing, with Harwood closing
in on him late in the race.
“I didn’t have much left in the tank by the third
race,” Cooper explained.
“But I knew the other riders would find it hard
to pass if they caught me anyway. I just clicked
off the laps and, in the end, I managed to pull
away again.
“With what I’ve been through this past month
and only short periods training on the bike,
perhaps only four times on the bike since my
crash, my fitness has been going backwards.
KIWI RIDER 25