FIRST SHOTS FIRED AT MOTOCROSS NATIONALS
T
he first shots have been fired and the
guns are still smoking hot. There were
comprehensive winners in all three
championship classes, and the Women’s
Cup competition too, at the opening round
of this season’s New Zealand Motocross
Championships in Taranaki on February 4, but none of
these riders should feel safe and secure just yet. With
three rounds still to come, anything can still happen.
The defending national MX1 champion, 34-year-
old Mount Maunganui man Cody Cooper (Honda),
became acutely aware that the young brigade may
be catching him up as he struggled all day at Taranaki
with a man 10 years his junior, Hamilton-based
former Mangakino rider Kayne Lamont (Yamaha).
Maximus Purvis
RESULTS: MX1
1 Kayne Lamont (Hamilton, Yamaha) 75 Points
2 Cody Cooper (Mount Maunganui, Honda) 60 Points
3 Kirk Gibbs (Australia, KTM) 60 Points
4 John Phillips (Rotorua, Honda) 52 Points
5 Rhys Carter (Mount Maunganui, Kawasaki) 49 Points
6 Hamish Harwood (Auckland, KTM) 44 Points
7 Brad Groombridge (Taupo, Suzuki) 39 Points
8 Campbell King (Dunedin, KTM) 38 Points
9 Cohen Chase (Taupo, KTM) 37 Points
10 Jared Guthrie (Nelson, Yamaha) 35 Points
14 KIWI RIDER
The 24-year-old Lamont won all three MX1 class
races and looked quite comfortable doing so,
in the process establishing a solid 15-point lead
over Cooper at the top of the series standings.
However, there was more to it than just the polished
form of the young challenger, with Cooper indicating
that he was struggling to come to grips with his
suspension settings, issues that perhaps led to his big
crash in the day’s final MX1 race. Cooper was spat off
his bike while leading the race and he was forced to
settle for fifth place at the finish, albeit still enough
for him to finish the day overall runner-up in the class.
Third best rider in the premier MX1 class was
visiting Australian Kirk Gibbs (KTM), his 4-3-2
score-card over the three races perhaps no real
Brad Groombridge
Cody Cooper
MX2
1 Hamish Harwood (Auckland, KTM) 75 Points
2 Brad Groombridge (Taupo, Suzuki) 60 Points
3 Jay Wilson (Australia, Yamaha) 55 Points
4 Hayden Smith (Taihape, KTM) 53 Points
5 Daryl Hurley (Hawera, Suzuki) 46 Points
6 Micah McGoldrick (Tauranga, Honda) 43 Points
7 Trent Collins (Ohaupo, Honda) 42 Points
8 Logan Blackburn (Te Puke, Kawasaki) 39 Points
9 Cooper Pozniak (Australia, Husqvarna) 38 Point
10 Mason Wilkie (Masterton, Yamaha) 38 Points
Kayne Lamont
Hamish Harwood
indicator of his potential, because he too fell
victim to the track on more than one occasion.
Lamont can rightfully celebrate his stunning
hat-trick of wins at Taranaki, but he will also
125
1 Maximus Purvis (Mangakino, Yamaha) 72 Points
2 Mason Semmens (Australia, KTM) 69 Points
3 Seton Head (Cambridge, KTM) 52 Points
4 Joshua Bourke-Palmer (Rotorua, Yamaha) 48 Points
5 Jacob Beal (Napier, Yamaha) 45 Points
6 Broc Martens (Auckland, KTM) 45 Points
7 Grason Veitch (Dunedin, KTM) 41 Points
8 Liam Kerr (Nelson, Yamaha) 36 Points
9 Zak Hetherington (Okato, TM) 30 Points
10 Tommy Watts (Wairoa, Husqvarna) 28 Points
Words & photos: Andy McGechan
WOMEN’S CUP
1 Taylar Rampton (Opunake, Suzuki) 70 Points
2 Letitia Alabaster (Rotorua, KTM) 67 Points
3 Mel Patterson (Rotorua, KTM) 58 Points
4 Roma Edwards (Motueka, Yamaha) 58 Points
5 Samantha Kelly (Te Kuiti, Yamaha) 50 Points
6 Chloe Steel (Te Awamutu, Honda) 44 Points
7 Robyn Turnbull (Mangawhai, Yamaha) 42 Points
8 Nicolette Epps (Taupo, KTM) 40 Points
9 Christina Cameron (Tauranga, KTM) 35 Points
10 George Swift (Warkworth, Suzuki) 32 Points
be mindful that Cooper and Gibbs, and all the
other MX1 competitors too, will likely bounce
back with a vengeance at round two in Rotorua
in just over a weeks’ time (on February 25).
Meanwhile, in the MX2 (250cc) class,
defending champion Hamish Harwood
(KTM) was also in scintillating form.
The 22-year-old West Auckland-based former
Takaka man won all three MX2 races at Taranaki,
finishing the day 15 points clear of Taupo’s national
cross-country champion Brad Groombridge
(Suzuki). Third best in this class was visiting
Australian Jay Wilson (Yamaha), the former
Grand Prix motocross star becoming faster as
the day wore on and his 8-3-2 score-card left
him just five points adrift of Groombridge.
KIWI RIDER 15