COOPER RECLAIMS WOODVILLE MXGP CROWN
he Australians may have won the day
but nobody had an answer for Bay
of Plenty’s Cody Cooper. The iconic
motocross, at the eastern end of the
Manawatu Gorge, again attracted the cream
of talent from New Zealand and Australia, but
Honda rider Cooper was determined that he
would again be the man to stand top of the
podium.
With gale force winds and constant
drizzle ruining an otherwise perfect event,
organisers were forced to scale back the race
programme, allowing only two races for each
class, rather than the traditional three races.
But this was of little concern to the 35-year-
old Cooper, who convincingly won both the
premier MX1 races on the Sunday of the
event and with that he also won the event
outright, making it three times now that he
has claimed the top trophy there.
The Mount Maunganui rider had previously
won the coveted Woodville GP trophy in 2007
and a second time in 2014.
Runner-up to Cooper on Sunday was visiting
Australian Kirk Gibbs (Yamaha YZ450F), with
Taupo’s Cohen Chase (Kawasaki KX450F)
rounding out the MX1 podium.
“I didn’t realise the Woodville trophy would
not be a stand-alone, separate race this year
and it all hinged on me winning the MX1
class,” said Cooper.
“That meant I really needed to win both MX1
races today. So it didn’t really matter that I
won the first race if I didn’t win the second
one, because I could lose out on the count-
back rule.