KIWI RIDER 01 2019 VOL.1 | Page 102

I feel like I’m in pretty unbelievable form at the moment, at one with my bike. I’m feeling confident ahead of the nationals. -COOPER The big annual post-Christmas Honda Summercross has been good to Cooper over the years, but, most significantly, he undoubtedly showed this time around that he has the class, the determination and superb machinery to push on and perhaps reclaim his national No.1 title when the four- round nationals kick off in Taranaki in early February. Cooper has little time to rest before he lines up at the annual King of the Mountain motocross in Taranaki on January 20, followed by the annual Honda New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville on January 26-27. “I feel like I’m in pretty unbelievable form at 102 KIWI RIDER the moment, at one with my bike. I’m feeling confident ahead of the nationals.” In the MX2 class Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis was sensational. The 18-year-old took his Altherm JCR Yamaha YZ250F to dominate the class at the two-day motocross meet, winning all five races on the track, although denied a clean sweep after he was adjudged to have jumped past a yellow caution flag and was docked one minute, dropping him back to 15th in race four. It didn’t matter in the end, though, because he was still able to amass enough points to get the job done, winning the class ahead of Taupo’s Wyatt Chase (Honda) and Rangiora’s Micah McGoldrick (KTM).