Words & photos: Andy McGechan/bikesportnz.com
Cooper hit the 2017 Summercross to
bag himself three wins on the trot.
B
ay of Plenty’s Cody Cooper has
done it again. The former Opotiki
man gave his many local fans
a real treat as he was almost
unstoppable at the big annual Honda
Summercross event at Whakatane in
December, the last big New Zealand
motocross blow-out of the year.
The Honda Racing Team star’s
winning of the glamour MX1 class didn’t come
without stress, but “smart riding” handed the
“under the weather” 34-year-old national MX1
champion his fourth Summercross victory and his
third in a row at the 2017 edition of the event.
Even though debilitated by a head cold, Mount
Maunganui’s Cooper (Honda Racing Team CRF450)
won the first four eight-minute MX1 class races on
Saturday and, when he started to fade, his energy
sapped by the illness, in the longer fifth and final
(15-minute) race of the day, he knew that he
really only had to worry about nearest challenger
Rhys Carter (Kawasaki KX450F) and fellow Honda
Racing Team rider John Phillips, of Rotorua.
When Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team rider
Kayne Lamont fought through to snatch the lead
from Cooper in that final race, Cooper was