Cody Cooper
“ All I needed to do was ride sensibly in Taranaki to take the title ,” Harwood confirmed afterwards . “ Three third placings would even have been enough ,” said the man who has finished no worse than second all season . “ I didn ’ t have any doubts in my ability , but I was realistic and knew that motocross can sometimes be a cruel sport . “ Anything could have happened to ruin it for me ... a crash , a flat tyre , something mechanical going wrong . With the track conditions the way they were here ( wet and slippery ) there was a high chance that something bad could happen . “ To beat a guy at Jed ’ s level makes this title win special . He has shown that he ’ s the best guy in Australia at the moment and so , for me to be able to beat him is a pretty good feeling . It certainly wasn ’ t a fluke . I won the most races this season ( 10 race wins out of 15 starts , including his three race wins against Beaton at Woodville ). “ To compete at such a high level and win adds credibility to what I ’ ve done . It makes me super proud to have achieved this title .
“ My injured hand is not holding me back so much now . It ’ s more annoying than painful . I ’ m unsure whether I ’ ll need to have an operation to get it fixed up . “ I have no plans for more racing this season . I might tackle something overseas , but I have no plans at the minute .” Motorcycling New Zealand MXco-commissioner and Taranaki Motorcycle Club secretary Sonia Cloke , working alongside fellow commissioner and Pukekohe Motorcycle Club president Stu McCulloch , said she was thrilled to see the weekend and the series end on a high note . “ This has been a fantastic competition ,” she said . “ It was incredible that we could race at all today , considering the weather and the rain leading up to the event . The host club here , in fact all the clubs this season , have done an amazing job to get tracks prepared and to stay on top of the grooming and track maintenance . All the riders responded too by producing some truly great racing .”
32 KIWI RIDER