New Zealand News, Vol 77

VOL.77  TUESDAY 22 APRIL 2008

NEW ZEALAND NEWS

First Round of the Taupo Winter Series yesterday and Jayden Jessup was back from the Aussie Nats riding in the 250 and 450 Classes on Dave Leary Racing Hondas. Good to to see him back on the pace after almost a year off with his two breaks to his upper arm - humerus.

In the Senior 'all in' (450 and 250) Jayden won 2 and got a 2nd, so he won over all for the day with 72 points to Jesse Donnelly with 58 to Matt Hunt with 54 and Nick Saunders in 4th on 47.

• Race 1 -  Jessup won by 2.677 to Nick Saunders and 14 seconds back to Jesse Donnely. 
• Race 2 -  He won by 13 seconds to Jesse Donnely to Matt Hunt.  
• Race 3 -  Nick saunders won an exciting race by only .05 seconds. Jessup made several pass attempts on the last lap.

In A grade race with spilt 250/450 start.

• Race 1 - Jessup rode the 250 and was 12 seconds in the lead when on last lap he broke the gear  lever. 
• Race 2 - He won by 20.063 seconds to Ollie Sharp and Matt Hunt.

"I'm feeling great on bike and the training programme my manager Paul (Williams) is putting me through is really paying off. The Taupo Club put on a great day and I really enjoyed myself." said Jessup afterwards.

Darrin Capill had three wins in the Vets Class.

In the Junior ranks Kayne Lamont (Yamaha) took three wins in the 13-16yrs 85 Class confirming his readiness for the Nationals this weekend and then did the same in the 12-14yrs 125 Class. Ethan Martens (Yamaha) also confirmed his form in the 15-16yrs 125 Class. Same with Michael Litt (KTM) in the 14-16yrs 250 Class.

Three Kiwis were at Bellpuig, Spain for Round 2 of the FIM World Motocross Champs. Over the weekend. Josh Coppins and Scott Columb in MX1 and Tony Cooksley in the World Vets which is now one 40+ Class. Full detail is under the header Europe.

The NZ Junior Motocross Champs are on this weekend at Otorohanga - For all info: www.nkcmcc.co.nz

There is another Supercross coming is coming to Auckland. Yes, you read it right !! 11-12 July is the booked date at the Vector Arena in Auckland City. The promoter is John McNeil who resides in Perth. Six years ago he ran the SX and Gravity Games in Christchurch which was sold to Craig Douglas and then Full Throttlle Events. Riders coming are still in negotiation but a BIG name is coming from the USA. There will also be a Freestyle MX show, Cheer Leaders etc. Junior Classes 85, 125 and 250 will participate. More info coming soon.

Junior injuries. When I said several podium chances have gone out the window through a spate of injuries I had several emails.

Henry Madams (KTM) from Wellington is back on the bike and entered in the 250 Class.

Dave Craig says "just to let you know that the current NZ Grand Prix 8 to 10yrs Grand Prix Champion and McIvor and Veitch sponsored rider Riley McPherson is also out of the junior champs. He broke his arm between the shoulder and the elbow at the South Canterbury Champs the weekend.before last. The break was vertical and went the length of the bone from the shoulder into the elbow joint but sounds worse than it is as he is expected to make a good recovery. Even though he had to wait a week before he got plaster put on his arm to enable the swelling to go down. To say he is gutted is an under statement."

AUSTRALIA NEWS

Ballard's Yamaha Off Road frontrunner Chris Hollis has stormed to an outright win at the Australian 4 Day Enduro (A4DE) in rural Victoria. Hollis who currently leads the Australian Off Road Series, having won the first two rounds, was rated a strong chance to fight with international stars for victory and he did just that, topping the time-sheets after each day and battling through a tough Motocross final to take the trophy with a 32-second lead. The 23-year-old from Port Macquarie is the the first Australian rider to win the A4DE since former Ballards rider Glen Kearney took the crown in 2004.

Chris Hollis - Images courtesy www.a4de.com

The outright runner-up in 2007, Hollis' pre-season training and dedication to fitness and nutrition paid dividends from the outset, able to bounce back strongly after an average of over 7 hours on the bike per day.

"We were using a plunge pool for recovery, it was probably around 12 degrees and definitely not something I looked forward to at the end of the day, but it helped. Getting in and out helped to remove lactic acid which can almost stop you in your tracks if if builds up when riding."

Next year's A4DE will be held at Orange, NSW. For results, photos and more information please visit: www.a4de.com

Outright top-10
1. Chris Hollis (Yamaha)
2. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna)
3. AJ Roberts (Honda)
4. Blake Hore (Yamaha)
5. Peter Boyle (Honda)
6. Joel Smets (BMW)
7. Kirk Hutton (Yamaha)
8. Jarrod Bewley (Yamaha)
9. Ben Grabham (Honda)
10. Damian Smith (Kawasaki)

Acerbis Championship Class 1 (Under 200cc 2T)

1. Mark Goggin
2. Nathan Castle
3. Adam Waldon

Camelbak Championship Class 2 (Over 220cc 2T)
1. Kirk Hutton
2. Nicholas Beattie
3. Todd Stephenson

Scott Championship Class 3 (Under 250cc 4T)
1. Peter Boyle
2. Damian Smith
3. Ben Kearney

Motorex Championship Class 4 (270 - 450cc 4T)
1. Chris Hollis
2. AJ Roberts
3. Blake Hore

RK Championship Class 5
1. Brad Williscroft
2. Chris Birch
3. Darren Lloyd

CTi Championship Veterans
1. Geoff Ballard
2. Adrian Fitzgerald
3. Phil Wade

Christensens Motorcycles Championship Masters
1. Stuart Bennett
2. Rohan Crouch
3. Jason Cater

Alpinestars Championship Womens
1. Alison Parker
2. Jemma Wilson
3. Rosie Lalonde

State Senior Trophy Team top-3
1. New South Wales
2. Victoria
3. South Australia

State Junior Trophy Team top-3
1. Victoria
2. ACT
3. Queensland

Club teams top-3
1. OBMCC 1
2. Alpine Motorcycle Club Team
3. Bendigo Motorcycle Club Team

Trade Teams top-3
1. Ballard's Yamaha Off-Road Team
2. GHR Honda Racing
3. Motorex KTM Off-Road Team

EURO NEWS

Bellpuig (Spain) - The Spanish Grand Prix was one of the toughest races ever seen by the Motocross circus; it started to rain in the middle of the night and it carried on during the entire day, making the competition even tougher than it would have been. On a very wet and muddy course, Steve Ramon took his first career MX1 class victory while Davide Guarneri sealed his second MX2 GP win. A strong Toine van Dijk won the opening round of the FIM Veterans Motocross World Cup.  

Scott Columb was in MX1 and the final cut is at 30. In the first free practice he was 31st and in the second he was 33rd. It would be down to the timed practice for him to make the final cut. He missed out by three thousandths of a second - 0.2930 to be exact. How cruel is that ? 

See in these times from Youthstream there was four on the same second.

MX1 RACE 1: Home rider Jonathan Barragan took the lead in the opening laps, then was passed by Ramon with the Belgian pulling away from the rest of the field. A solid Philippaerts crashed out in the early stages but rejoined the race very quick to climb up to an eventual second; also third placed De Dycker crashed twice, once at the start and once again before the end of the opening lap. Though the Belgian giant worked his way up from the back of the pack to collect a positive top three finish. Coppins was a solid third when he stalled the bike on a jump and eventually dropped down to fourth ahead of Estonian Tanel Leok. Marc de Reuver was disqualified as he started outside of his gate position.  

MX2 RACE 1: Rattray rode a perfect heat, taking victory with a dominant gate to flag performance. A solid Steven Frossard was a comfortable second until he had a problem with his brakes, dropping down to twelfth. Cairoli took an eventual second place after a difficult start, as he was in the middle of the pack in turn one, while Guarneri ended an unexpected third; the latter was actually doubtful for this Grand Prix after last week's collarbone injury. 

Comment: Ricci Racing Yamaha's Davide Guarneri proved an incredibly strong competitor today, by winning his second Grand Prix despite a broken ligament in his right collarbone. The Italian was followed by countryman and Yamaha fellow rider Manuel Monni of 3C Racing, with the latter collecting his second career podium after his first appearance in Gaildorf 2005. Molson Kawasaki Racing's Stephen Sword was another rider coming back to the podium in third after he spent most of the 2006 and 2007 seasons off racing due to injuries. Reigning MX2 Champion Tony Cairoli of Yamaha Red Bull De Carli and current series leader Tyla Rattray of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing completed the top five.   Marvin Musquin was quick in the early stages, holding a promising third before dropping down to eighth after a mistake. Fourth placed Sword rode a solid heat, coming back up from the bottom of the top ten, while Jeremy Tarroux completed the top five ahead of Monni.

MX2 RACE 2: Holeshotter Tommy Searle crashed in the first corner to hand Nicolas Aubin the lead. The latter crashed as well and Guarneri found himself leading the MX2 group. Despite the slippery conditions and his injury, Guarneri kept a decent pace until the race was stopped. Winning the final heat, the Italian took also the overall ahead of Monni, who finished a distant second in the moto. 2007 EMX2 European Champion Gautier Paulin ended a positive third ahead of Rui Goncalves, while Joel Roelants completed the top five. Cairoli brought home a hard fought eleventh while Rattray ended seventeenth.

What the release does not say is that the race was red flagged with two laps to go.

In the MX1 Championship Points standings Ken de Dycker still holds the red plate with team mate Ramon following in 2nd, just 7 points behind. David Philippaerts has moved up to 3rd ahead of team mate Josh Coppins. Billy Mackenzie dropped down to 5th.

In the MX2 class Tyla Rattray keeps the leadership but Cairoli has shortened up the gap which is now three points. Guarneri jumped up to third courtesy of today's victory while team mates Tommy Searle and Rui Goncalves round off the top five.

At the end of this second of fifteen rounds of the FIM Motocross World Championship, FIM/CMS President Dr. Wolfgang Srb said: "The situation was very difficult, everyone tried their utmost to run this event but what we finally learnt is that the nature is always stronger, there is nothing we can do against it. We have done all we could, everyone has worked extremely hard to make it happen but the nature was stronger than all our efforts. The decision taken by the event management was good, the riders' safety always comes first."

Youthstream President Mr. Giuseppe Luongo stated: "This was a wise decision; we have all the experts on the race track, such as the track designer, the race director, the clerk of the course and so on. It was very difficult out there and it was right to take this decision."

The following weekend will see the third Grand Prix of the season in Agueda, Portugal.

Veterans Cup will be back on June 1st at Mallory Park (Great Britain) for the second of their three rounds.

Josh Coppin's 'media' version:

As the riders dashed for the crucial hole-shot in Moto 1, Coppins nearly lost the front end when he hit a blanket of water going into the first turn. He saved the crash and positioned himself comfortably in third spot behind Barragan and Ramon. After passing Barragan for second and then setting after Ramon, Coppins got stuck before the infamous uphill step section. It took the Kiwi over half a minute to free his motorcycle from the quagmire and re-attempt the hill successfully. With the race now a lottery, Coppins focused on staying on the bike and settled for fourth spot just behind the Belgian, Ken De Dycker. With the MX2 class not able to complete their second moto it was inevitable that a decision would be made not to race the second MX1 moto. The GP overall was then decided by the first moto result which saw Coppins miss out on the podium.

The Yamaha Monster racer has now climbed to fourth in the championship standings and trails leader de Dycker by 23 points. "I'm still trying to get faster, trying to get better" explained Coppins. "I have lost two points on the lead and that for me is important at the moment. I am not focused on which position I am in the championship, or even the result this weekend - more important is to minimize the deficit from the lead until I am 100% and can start winning some races and pull back those points." "I was happy with my riding and even set the fastest lap in the first moto in these tricky conditions. I made a crucial mistake going up the hill step section and that cost me the win but I was also lucky that it didn't turn out worse because it was a lottery out there. It's still a long season and I'm pretty happy with the result."

FIM VETERANS MOTOCROSS WORLD CUP - Round 1 Bellpuig. I spoke to Tony Cooksley early yesterday morning. He and Chris Bailey were already back in Barcelona. Tony said it was the worst conditions he had ever ridden in. He said the triple setup was like a staircase and he and David Thorpe were stuck at the bottom. He was very happy having qualified 12th. They were going to stay a day in Dubai but decided to come straight home. Right now they are between Dusseldorf and Dubai on Emirates - in fact just landed !!

Photographer Dick Koers, who supplied all the photos for Tony's 2007 win, sent in this small video film of race 1.  http://www.motocrossplanet.eu/spain7.wmv   It shows just how bad it really was.

Here is the 'official' media release:

Belgian Peter Iven was the poleman in this opening round of the FIM Veterans Motocross World Cup, the series hosting the most legendary Motocross riders of the past such as today's second fastest Dave Thorpe. The three time 500cc World Champion and last year's World Cup winner was almost two seconds off Iven's pole. Scott Eastwood took the third fastest time ahead of CCM mounted Greg Hanson. The latter has been the last Grand Prix rider of the British manufacturer back in 1989 and this result represented an historic comeback for both. Freddy Verherstraeten rounded off the top five ahead of 2006 World Cup winner Thierry Godfroid, who was back to action after last year's injury at Donington Park. Former GP winner Charles Sun ended eleventh after a day he spent to get to know the track of Bellpuig, where the Cup comes for the first time since its opening edition in 2006. Last year's World Cup winner Tony Cooksley was right behind in 12th.

Courtesy of his win in the second heat, Dutchman Toine van Dijk took the overall victory of this first round of the 2008 FIM Veterans Motocross World Cup. Ending a disappointing tenth in heat one, Van Dijk went out for revenge in the second moto, leaving 2007 World Cup winner Dave Thorpe behind in second. Second on the podium was British Scott Eastwood, who ended second in heat one and sixth in heat two, to collect his first podium finish in the series. 2006 World Cup winner Thierry Godfroid made a stunning comeback to racing after he injured himself at Donington Park last year. After several months off the bike, the Belgian came back to action ending the moto's in sixth and fourth. Poleman Peter Iven ended fourth overall while first moto winner and sole CCM rider Greg Hanson ended right behind in fifth, as his second moto was compromised when another rider hit him. Dave Thorpe was ninth after a difficult opening moto; he was second behind Iven when the latter crashed and Thorpe could not avoid him. Ending 20th, former GP winner Charles Sun had a tough debut on a difficult track where he never rode before while 2007 World Cup winner Cooksley ended 25th.

Top five overall: 1. Toine van Dijk (NED, Suzuki), 36 points; 2. Scott Eastwood (GBR, Honda), 35 p.; 3. Thierry Godfroid (BEL, Kawasaki), 33 p.; 4. Peter Iven (BEL, Kawasaki), 32 p.; 5. Greg Hanson (GBR, CCM), 31 p.

After I sent the link out for the Transworld Motocross images of the 2009 mackines at the All Japan National MX Championship Series opener, I received these picss from GuyB from www.vitalmx.com

It shows Antonio Cairoli's YZ250F at Valkensvard. His bike has the same high-compression sound as the U.S. factory bikes. It also has Solva suspension components front and rear that is rarely seen. How cool does the carbon tank look?

USA NEWS

Monster Energy® Supercross in St. Louis.

Torco Honda's Kevin Windham picked up his third main event win of the season and tightened the championship race in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, before a crowd of 48,698 at the Edward Jones Dome. Torco Honda's Trey Canard clinched his first-ever AMA Supercross Lites class championship with a win.

Kawasaki's Kelly Smith won the $1,500 Progressive Direct Holeshot Award to begin the 20-lap AMA Supercross class main event. Team San Manuel Yamaha's Chad Reed took over the lead on the opening lap but would give way to the hard-charging Windham, who steadily pulled away for the win.

The racing between Reed and Windham was good, and Reed proved tough to get by but eventually Windham made the pass stick and he rode on for his third race of the season. Images and copy courtesy: GuyB from www.vitalmx.com

Windham, who entered tonight's race trialing Reed by 16 points, cut the deficit to 13 points with two races remaining. Reed, who is riding with a cracked shoulder blade, turned in a valiant ride to earn second. Red Bull Honda's Andrew Short finished third.

"Tonight I just wanted to put myself into a good position," said Windham. "(Chad) put himself in a good position to not lose too many points tonight. It's all about me now and I feel good about the ride I put in tonight. I'm giving it all I can and that alone feels good."

Added Reed, "(My shoulder's) definitely a lot better than last weekend. I just couldn't make it happen in the whoops. I didn't want to lay (the bike) down, so I rode for second tonight. I want this title and I'm not about to let it go. I feel like I've let these guys into this points battle all season long by making mistakes."

Trey Canard grabbed the $1,000 Progressive Direct Holeshot Award off the start of the AMA Supercross Lites main event as Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto settled into third place. Canard held a three-point lead heading into the series finale in St. Louis. Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Branden Jesseman took over the lead on the opening lap, with Canard and Villopoto settling into second and third, respectively. The win and the championship would ultimately be decided at the end of lap four as both Villopoto and Canard got by Jesseman. With Villopoto out front, Canard slid to the inside and made contact with Villopoto, sending Villopoto into the finish line jump and off the track.

If you listened to Sunday's webcast from St. Louis you undoubtedly heard about the contact between Trey Canard and Ryan Villopoto as they battled in the main event for the Lites East title. Villopoto had just passed for the lead a few corners previous to this and Canard was passing back for the lead. When Villopoto moved out front, it would have been easy to think that the main was over. But Trey Canard not only caught back up to Villopoto, he closed the gap to him. As they reached the 90-degree right-hander before the finish line, Canard bumped his way to the inside of of Villopoto, which caused him to veer towards the finish line structure. When Villopoto hit the finish line structure, his bike rolled off the side of the track. Images and copy courtesy: GuyB from www.vitalmx.com