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Photo - Katherine Prumm, The 2004 NZ Womens MX Champion.
The fact that all of the class leaders at the start of the ultimate round of the SSANGYONG NZ 2004 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP retained their positions to take out their respective titles is deceiving. There was action all day yesterday and some very brave last ditch attempts to take out titles at Harrisville, near Pukekohe.
Cody Cooper (Opotiki) came closest to working the oracle. Placed three points in arrears of Daryl Hurley (Hawera) at the start of the day Cooper showed brilliant form to win the first two legs of the triple task. He then needed to win the final race to retain the 125 title and form the perfect record - Australian, Oceania and NZ 125 Champion. At the end of the first lap of the last race of the series, his hopes looked forlorn, Hurley had a huge lead and Cooper was in 19th spot. Cheered on by a large crowd Cooper worked his way through the field on the 2.6 km natural track but ran out of room and time to catch Hurley. The overall point’s situation was locked on 242 but Cooper had to forfeit his title to Hurley because Hurley had achieved a 60% win record over the 12 race programme.
The 250 title stays in Shayne King’s (New Plymouth) trophy cabinet, the former world champion produced two wins and a second yesterday on the technical Harrisville track. The rider to beat him was Peter Broxholme (Tauranga), the win assuring Broxholme of second place overall with Michael Cotter (Cambridge) in third.
King calculated his task in the 500 class - he completed a 1-2-2 record, enough to give him his 28th National Motocross Title, heading off brother Darryll (Hamilton) by nine championship points. This reversed the order of the Australian Open Title and confirmed the dominance of the King dynasty in this part of the motocross world.
Run for the first time in conjunction with the men’s championship, the Women’s Open Title produced a clean sweep for Katherine Prumm (Pukekohe) – the 16 year old maintained a 100% win record throughout and was the only rider to achieve maximum points.
Final Standings
125 Class:
D Hurley, Hawera (Suzuki) 242,
C Cooper, Opotiki (Honda) 242,
S Columb, Queenstown (Suzuki) 199
250 Class:
S King,New Plymouth (Honda) 267,
P Broxholme 216 (Honda),
S Fogarty, Gisborne (KTM)
500 Class:
S King, New Plymouth (Honda) 270,
D King Hamilton (Yamaha) 261,
C Sargent, Wellington (Honda)
Women’s Class:
K Prumm, Pukekohe (Kawasaki) 150,
M Perkins, Hastings (Honda) 126,
E Wadsworth, Blenheim (Yamaha) 126
Full Results HERE:
