WHAT REALLY HAPPENED: TAUPO MX NATIONALS
You could not have written a better fairy tale ending to the FOX New Zealand Motocross Champs than what played out at the final round in Taupo. A literal winner-takes-all in the MX1 class had fans on the edge of the fences as the gate dropped for the final time of 2019 in Aotearoa’s premier class.
ENI Kawasaki rider Cohen Chase grabs the holeshot in the final race with Yamaha rider Kayne Lamont right behind. Kirk Gibbs, current NZ #1 and in the winner-takes-all battle against Cody Cooper sits in a solid 5th rounding the holeshot corner. But Cooper had possibly his worst start of the series and was buried in the pack and outside the top 10.
Whether or not Cooper was going to get back to second by the end of the race was a no-brainer. Both him and Gibbs were exponentially better than the rest of the class, so second was always a forgone conclusion. But getting back to 2nd was not going to be enough to take the title and the speed between the two riders was so close that passing was the hardest part.
Race 1 saw Cooper get the holeshot and take off in front, initially leading Lamont with Gibbs back in 10th. By lap 3, Gibbs was into 2nd and chasing down Cooper. But this was about as close as Gibbs could get to Cooper during their first outing, which extended Coopers lead to 6 in the series. If Cooper was to win the next race he would take the championship. If Gibbs took Race 2 it would be a winner-takes-all for the final race. It was a long way back to 3rd and perhaps even longer back to 4th.
Race 2 in the MX1 battle was close right from the get-go. Coops got the holeshot but Gibbs was right on his tail. This was a must win for Gibbs if he wanted any chance of keeping his NZ MX1 title for another year. But as drama goes, this race had plenty of it. A crash on lap one saw the yellow flag thrown, followed by the red cross flag, meaning a downed rider needed medical attention. Yellow means no passing or junping and the red cross means slow right down and follow officials signals because they are attending to a rider. Gibbs was trying everything he could to get past Cooper, eventually making a pass meters before the yellow flag. There was a divided crowd as to whether Gibbs made the pass before the yellow section or inside it, but officials deemed it good. After 5 laps the red flag was thrown and the race organisers rushed to the rule books to see the correct protocol regarding declaring the race or having a re-start of some fashion. The race was declared and Gibbs was announced as the winner.
It is always a good idea to err on the side of caution when it comes to injuries and riders that are on the track and need attention. But 5 laps of red cross flags before throwing the red seems a little long? Especially when you take into account the championship and subsequent declaring of he race. We weren’t on the scene and don’t know exactly what it was that happened or led to the decisions that were made but the red should have been thrown out after two laps. With the lap times, two laps is nearly 5 minutes of the rider on the ground, on the track with bikes coming past. This also would have given the riders who were chasing the championship the ability to fight it out on the track and not have officials decide who the winner was.
But for the fans though, it set up the perfect storm between Cooper and Gibbs with the last race of the series crowning the 2019 MX1 champion.
The gate dropped and Cohen Chase grabbed the holeshot - his first of the year. Gibbs quickly moved into the lead by half a lap and Kayne followed suit right after - making it a Yamaha 1-2 up front after the first lap. Cooper didn’t pull the start and was buried outside the top 10. But like we mentioned earlier, finishing on the podium wasn’t going to be the problem, it was catching and passing Gibbs - or at least that’s what everyone thought.
Kayne Lamont was fast at Taupo - throwing down laps as fast as the front two guys, but not having the legs to do it all race. However he was good enough all season to finish the championship in 3rd place - a repeat of 2018. Cooper was into 3rd place pretty quickly and had Gibbs team mate, Lamont, to deal with before he could head after Gibbs. Would Kayne help out Gibbs and make it really difficult for Cody to pass, or let him by and leave the racing up to the guys? We never really found out as Cooper was past the #94 before he even saw him coming.
Cooper then set his sights on Gibbs and caught the Yamaha rider within two laps. You could see the urgency in Coopers riding. Scrubbing everything he could and pushing harder than anyone had seen him push all season - maybe ever. The determination was touchable as the Honda rider passed Gibbs on the outside of the same corner he passed Kayne on only two laps previous. Gibbs had nothing for Cooper who continued to pull away to the race victory, while at the same time, regaining his #1 plate and MX1 championship title.
The final lap of Moto 3 with the crowd clapping after witnessing an incredible come-from-behind ride. This was the corner that Cooper made the pass on both Kayne and Gibbs right around the outside.
It seems getting an average start in the final moto may have played a part in Cooper being able to get around the Yamaha riders. Battling through the pack, Cooper was pushed wide on this corner when in about 7th place, but still made the pass. Drifting a little further outside the normal ‘racing line’ was smoother, giving you better drive and a faster exit speed - although it didn’t look like it, which may have been why no one else was taking it. This is also something Cooper may not have tried had he not had to contend with half the field on lap one. Both Yamaha riders were clearly surprised when Cooper railed around the outside of them and made a pass out of nowhere.
Cohen Chase had an impressive race at Taupo, finishing 3rd overall in the MX1 class - his best of the season. Cohen is new to the ENI Kawasaki team and is pretty happy with the new bike. He finished the season in 4th overall. Expect more good results to come for this now factory-backed rider.
Blake Gillard made the season hard for himself by sporting a 250cc two-stroke against the 450s in the premier class. But consistency is still what matters, no matter how fast you are and the Aucklander managed to secure himself 5th for the season. Pretty good effort when you take into account the lack of power pretty much everywhere on the track. Clearly two-strokes still have a place in NZ Motocross.
MX2
The MX2 class produced some great racing of its own, but it was never a run for the title like in MX1. Hamish Harwood held a commanding lead after Round 3 in Auckland and only had to finish near the pointy end to secure another MX2 title.
With first place all but sown up, it was a bit closer in the race for second place for the series. Wyatt Chase was sitting in third and Maximus Purvis in second with a decent buffer. But as with motocross, anything can happen and that’s why we race.
Harwood would get the first race holeshot, followed by Purvis and Chase. This wouldn’t last long however as Chase would pass both riders to get into the lead. Purvis then latched onto the back of Chase and dropped Harwood pretty quickly. It was obvious that Harwood was just taking it easy and didn’t want any part of the battle up front - banking points and banking titles.
Wyatt and Purvis were close the whole race but it was Wyatt who took the win - finally showing the kind of speed that we all expected from him the whole season. He would then back that up by winning Race 2, where Harwood put up more of a fight for half the race, before Wyatt took the lead and the win.
A DNF in Race 2 due to an electrical problem in the YZ250F of Maximus dropped him out of 2nd in the series back to 3rd. The JCR team had to pull the practice bike out of the truck and swap over all the suspension and wheels before the next race. Here you can see JRC Yamaha owner Josh Coppins getting stuck in to help with the swap over.
Sean Fogarty made a return to racing, filling in for the injured and non-returner, Wilson Todd. Todd crashed out of Round 3 in Auckland and elected to stay back in Australia to prepare for his up coming season. Fogarty would finish up 10th overall for the day - a very credible effort for the rider who has been retired more times than Darryl King.
The day belonged to Wyatt chase with his finishing results of 1-1-2 securing the round win and propelling himself to 2nd in the championship - a far cry from where he started the season in New Plymouth. The Honda rider was expected to be on the podium right from the get go, but he never seemed to catch speed. Taupo showed what he’s capable of and with this new-found confidence it will be exciting to see what the rest of the year will bring for Wyatt Chase.
But the MX2 championship went to a very deserving Hamish Harwood. His consistency all year and straight speed when it mattered trumped all who tried to compete against the Auckland rider. Having won the championship on a 250 two-stroke in 2018, some were dubious of his ability on a 250F. Harwood silenced the critics and took the championship by 51 points. Impressive as he was also dominating the 125 class at the same time.
Australian import Morgan Fogarty had a consistent season and finished his first NZ championship in 4th place.
Brad Groombridge had a day to forget after only making the start line of the first race after smashing his finger up during the first MX1 race . Still the Taupo native managed 5th for the season on the Kea Suzuki RM-Z250.
The best looking bike in the pits if you ask us. Ethan Martens ENI Kawasaki KX250 (Kawasaki have dropped the ‘F’) is a beautiful thing when you take a good look at it. The green, yellow and black make it a slick and dangerous looking machine. Martens didn’t have the season he wanted and finished 7th overall.
125
The 125 class was even more of an uneventful story as Hamish Harwood had won every race thus far in the season. And after qualifying it wasn’t looking like a change was in the cards.
This was the story of the day in the 125 class. Harwood out front with Ben Broad trailing. The double-classing rider looked to be simply doing what was needed on his KTM 125 - keeping Ben far enough behind so as not to be able to make a move on him. His perfect season and second title of 2019 just another reason why this kid is the future of NZ motocross.
Ben Broad was the best of the rest in the 125 class - leading laps on more than a few occasions. But the Ngatea local wasn’t able to turn those laps led into wins. Still - for the rider who is studying full time and was only out here to have some fun - it wasn’t a bad effort coming in as runner up in the 125 national class.
Joshua Bourke-Palmer had put in a great season on the Yamaha YZ125 - consistently inside the top 5 in just about every race. He needed more podiums to get closer to Ben Broad, but finishing on the box for 2019 is a great reward for a hard fought season.
Another Yamaha rider Tommy Watts tied with Joshua on points at Round 4 but was awarded the podium on count back. But it wasn’t enough to leap-frog into third and he had to settle four 4th in 2019.
More blue up front, Yamaha rider, Jack Dunlop finished out the top five for 2019 in the 125 class - which is also where he finished the day at Taupo to. Sometimes consistency really does pay off.
With the 2019 FOX New Zealand Motocross Nationals wrapped up for another season, in most cases, the racing was pretty action packed. Sure Harwood had both titles pretty covered coming into the final round, but with plenty more positions up for grabs there was action all day. And the way the MX1 class played out was something we wish everyone could have witnessed in the flesh.
Check back here in the coming weeks for a break down of the series itself. Not the racing, but more the rider numbers or lack of, the no south island round, VIP tent access, team spending and much, much more in an upcoming edition of Motopinion. Stay tuned.