Auckland MX Champs Review.

VOL.135 - WENESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2009

NEW ZEALAND NEWS

Auckland MX Champs Review.

Hard to believe, Friday night we were all so excited. Saturday, up at 6am and at the track by 7am. Wow, this is going to be such a big day. Track was so looking so goods and the grounds were 'park-like' due to the efforts of by Doug Smith, Dean Isemonger and Sharon Cox.

The BIG news that morning was that 1996 World 500cc Motocross Champion, Shayne King, was going to ride the Vet's Class - Vets at Auckland Champs are 35+.
Also, Isaiah McGoldrich, was up from Rangiora (North of Christchurch) and would be taking on the best in the 250 Class as he had moved up from the 12-14yrs 125 Class where he carried the No.1 plate.

Naming rights sponsors Demon Energy had their banners and bunting everywhere and add to that the new Club House was looking great in it's new paint so what was the problem ? 7am and the sprinklers were on and by 7.30am and it started drizzling, which by 8am turned into heavy, heavy rain. Practice started at 9am sharp and they had to revert to a shortened track. That consisted of a diversion from the No.9 drop-off and most of the back section was cut out. Such was the rain that there was no way 85's were going to get up the steep faces and off camber berms. Then the 8-10yrs 85cc Class was postponed but later cancelled.

You are damned if you do and damned if you don't. The track was the best ever, deep ripped but so much rain had turned it into deep mud.

11-12yrs 85cc were sent out first for practice before it got too bad and it was just a mud-fest with the more experienced boys taking control.

Meantime the Mini's on their separate track were told that their racing was postponed until Sunday.
Practice was very messy with riders falling 'all over the place'. Bikes were so laden with Harrisville's clay they were nigh impossible to pick-up. Clutches were clearly heard working overtime !
Yes, it was very muddy but who was the fastest Vet ? Surprise, surprise, none other than Shayne King with a mere 0.200m advantage over Craig Brown and 10:5 over 'big brother' Darryll. Tony Cooksley, declined to get muddied for practice.

Practice was over and the wash bays were full with queues for the superb 12 wash-bays that the Pukekohe MCC offers.

Alicia McLauchlan, all the way from Nelson.

Jamie Collins with his Dad Richard all the way from Tasman at the top of the South Island. Richy is the 'man' developing the Tasman Motocross facility that I wrote about previously.

First race was delayed until 10.45am and it was the 11-12yrs 85cc Class. There was now only 19 starters from 33 entries. Only 9 finished with 10 DNF's, that's how bad it was. KTM Junior Brandon Tipene won it by 38 seconds from Aaron Wiltshier (KTM) and 3rd was James Dean Anderson (KTM), 88 seconds behind.
Next up was the 15-16yrs 125cc Class which was highly competitive in practice. However, already 4 riders were non-starters. Scott Henderson (YZ) took the holeshot from Kayne Lamont (YZ) and although he got his nose in front in the whoops behind the start-gates, Henderson held his ground. It wasn't until the end of Champion Straight that Lamont got past. Lamont got the swaps in the deep mud in the landing area of the container jump and went down crushing his fingers between the grip and the clutch lever. Henderson re-took the lead and a lap later he was gone with no clutch. In fact out of that race there was 8 DNF's and only 12 finishers. 1st was Callan May (YZ), 2nd Tom Managh (RM) and 3rd Ryan Metz (CR). The Medic's prognosis was that Lamont may have broken the knuckles of his Index and Ring fingers.

#91 Kayne Lamont and #822 Scott Henderson.

15-16yrs 125cc Class riders. Not even their Mothers would recognise them !!
Next was the Vets and Tony Cooksley was trying to intimidate DK on the line with false starts but as DK said afterwards (laughing) "I am too old for that sort of stuff!!" Richard Furze went down a mere 50 metres out of the holeshot corner but luckily for him it was wide open spaces.

Vets holeshot. #99 at the left is not Luke Burkhart but none other than Shayne King. #144 is Craig Brown. #81 Richard Furze and the Yamaha on the inside is #31 Darryll King.

Over the finish line and into the 90 degree right to the ramp of the container jump was very slippery. Cooksley had just turned when Shayne King slid into him and Cooksley's handlebar got him in the groin (groan!!). He pulled out before starting Lap 4.
DK was very good in the mud and finished 2 minutes ahead of Cooksley. 3rd was Dave Wood (KTM) who was lapped twice but at least he finished.

Shayne King's last competitive race was in Oct 2007. "I recently did a trail ride but nothing competitive for the last six months" he said.
13-16yrs 85cc Class. Only 20 starters with only 14 completing practice. Only 7 riders started the race and only 2 finished - it was worse than the Junior Nats at Otorohanga. 13 year old NZ Women's GP winner, Courtney Duncan (RM), had made an 18 hour road trip up from home which is 40 minutes north of Dunedin. It was a 5 lapper and she lapped 2nd placed Jacob Kneebone (YZ). To put it in perspective, her best was a 2:32.538 and Kneebone's a 3 16:00.
14-16yrs 250F Class. Come racing and there was only 15 starters. 6 DNF's and only 9 finishers. McGoldrick won it by 94 seconds from Jamie Collins (RM). Next was Boyd Carlson (RM) who was down a lap.

As I said earlier Isaiah McGoldrick (KTM) was up for the day from Christchurch. In his practice he was the only one to go under 2 minutes. At this point the rain was really heavy and time to put the camera away !
One round was all the riders were going to get as the rain stayed with heavy showers. Results were declared and the prizes handed out. What would Sunday bring for the Seniors ?
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SUNDAY
PRACTICE. The day dawned clear and would be warm. Doug Smith and Neil Wood were both out on bulldozers and Dean Isemonger on a bucketed tractor. They were out scrapping the top off and no exaggeration the piles of mud were bigger than an average car. Wood's bulldozer had a multi-tilt blade and that was extremely handy to have onsite.
Mini's were cancelled as the flat areas of their track was still under water.
They sent the National 500 Class (MX1) out first and despite the bulldozing, areas that had been used on Saturday, were still treacherous. Mark Penny had a big moment over the container jump and nearly took himself over the edge and the flaggies with him.

Much to everyone's amusement the Lead Rider went down - twice !!
Out the back there was little mud except in some of the flatter corners and usual Championship jumps of No.1 and No.1½ were being used quite differently. Riders went out West via a new jump, let's name it No.1¾, then back via No.1½ then West again via No.1. They are then well out the back and descend the 43 acre boundary and come up into the whoops behind the start.
The top 5 were reasonably close then on Lap 3 Honda Racings Luke Burkhart (aka Burga) went 14.2 seconds quicker than anyone else.

In the National 250 practice Hamish Dobbyn (YZ) was the quickest in what was a very classy field.

This is what the rest of him and his Yamaha looked like.
No Blake Gillard out with the national 250's so I paid their pit a visit. It was explained to me but in short his KTM's cam timing was at fault. The bike was back together but practice was just over.
In the National 125's it was interesting that Subway Yamaha's National 125cc Champion, Damien King, never came out for practice but fellow team rider Kieran Leigh did. Leigh was almost 8 seconds quicker than the next best.
As practice progressed the track improved with the help of the bulldozers. Four wheelers were used to flatten Champion straight as it was very much one line.
In the Women's practice Courtney Duncan (CR) had gone 86 seconds quicker than the rest. Her practice time would have put her 24th in the National 250cc Class !!
Despite the conditions the riders loved the track especially the new back section layout.
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RACING
National 500.

Race 1. #99 Luke Burkhart's holeshot. #1 is Damien King, #31 Darryll King, #9 Luke Temple, #2 Peter Brohholme Suffice to say Burga won by 52 seconds from his Honda Racing team-mate Peter Broxholme . 3rd was Damien King 34 secs back.

This is #4 Nick Saunders who has lost his goggles sitting in Damien King's mud roost. Behind him is #934 Stephen Smith.

'Mud in your eye' - #934 Stephen Smith.

Race 2 and #220 Mason Phillips (KTM) led out but Burkhart, obscured behind #2 Broxy, soon took over. #1 is Damien King and #4 Nick Saunders. Whilst Burkhart won by 19 secs there was a great battle behind him between Phillips, Broxholme and Damien King.

Race 3 and Broxholme lead out from #99 Burkhart #220 Phillips and #144 Craig Brown. Again it wasn't long before Burkhart assumed the lead and won by 7.6 secs. #933 is Jesse Donnelly.

Luke Burkhart certainly looked like he was back to his old self. He is currently working on funding several rounds of the AMA Outdoors Motocross in the USA.

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National 125. Smaller field than usual with not a lot of Juniors (Under 21's) running after Saturday's expiry rate.
Race1 and Kieran Leigh was gone and it took Damien King into Lap 4 to get past. Leigh finished just under 3 secs behind him. In Race 2 King led from the outset and put on close to 8 secs between them. Matt Prumm (KTM) was sitting in 3rd but a puncture slowed him over the last 3 laps and he dropped to 8th. Race 3 and it was Leigh in charge for four laps and when King got past him he hung onto him this time - just under 3 secs. There was a good battle behind them between Scott Barr-Smith (KTM) and Matt Prumm. Prumm will be wishing Barr-Smith had stayed on his Yamaha (and so do a few others !) as he also beat him to 3rd spot on the podium.

#901 is Kieran Leigh. #1 Damien King is outside of #10 who is Matt Prumm. #29 is Bob Bennell and #714 is Joshua Jack.

#1 Damien King in Race 2. Look how the hardpack is being exposed ?

I have said it before and I will say it again, why is Leigh not in the NZ Junior Team for the 2009 World Champs ? He was injured when the call for applications went out but why have they not chased him. Subway Yamaha have purposely kept him on the 125 (yes, he was on a 250F for the Supercross) but once he gets some race time under his belt, he will be damned hard to beat.
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National 250.

Good to see Andrew Porter back after his nasty facial injuries at the Four Stroke Nats. He only lasted 5½ minutes in Race 1 and I can't get an answer as to why ?
The Class turned on the best of close racing for the day. Race 1 and Hamish Dobbyn jumped the start from gate No.1 but the new gates did there job and held him back. Trouble was he hit it with such force it lifted up the bottom plate and upset the start rhythm of those next to him especially Honda's Justin McDonald. There was calls for a restart but as Steward Scott Wilkins said "the gate had done it's job." Blake Gillard led out and stayed there until into the 5th lap when Dobbyn, who had come from through from 13th, took the lead. McDonald was 10th leading out but by Lap 6 was into 2nd. Cotter surprised all with his 2nd until Lap 3 but he still finished a fine 4th. Ethan Martens was also caught up in Dobbyn's mischief came from 17th through to 5th. Tony Cooksley had only got one ride in the day before so he turned out on his YZ250 two stroke just for the ride.

Race 1 holeshot #253 Jade Thompson, #24 Damian Fogarty and #212 Michael Litt. The riders that were on the inside gates were a good bike length behind because of the drama at the gates.

#101 Blake Gillard leads #201 Justin McDonald.

Race 2 and at the start Dobbyn nearly fell off his bike.

#103 Ethan Martens led out from #10 Matt Prumm, #201 McDonald and #111 Cotter. Dobbyn is tucked in behind Cotter.

Aerial ballet. At the end of the first lap Dobbyn was into 2nd and a lap later into the lead.
Martens and McDonald were battling it out and had a 'collision' out the back of jump No.1½. Cotter got into 2nd and that's where he stayed. Brad Groombridge got into 3rd and Martens was 4th. McDonald ended up 13th just in front of Gillard who had also crashed. Dobbyn had won by 11.5 seconds.

Race 3 and #111 Cotter led the first lap only to fall victim to #201 McDonald, who lasted 3 laps until #3 Dobbyn got him. Mason Phillips and Damien King were having a real tussle. Gillard (obscured by Cotter) started out in 2nd but finished 4th behind Cotter. #103 Martens was 5th the whole race.

Dobbyn rode extremely well for his 15 point overall margin. 3rd to 5th were close points with 8th to 10th all on 36. Like I said about Leigh why is Dobbyn not in the NZ Junior Team for the 2009 World Champs ?
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Women. Race 1 and with one lap to go Courtney Duncan is already on her last lap before anyone else has entered the Supercross section on the Eastern side - she wins by 96 seconds !! Race 2 was better with only a 33 second margin and Race 3 was 30 seconds.

#4 Courtney Duncan. Note how the track is drying out.

In Race 2 Duncan drops it at the top of the back section and is back in 3rd. When they came into view behind the start straight she was already back into 1st.
Alicia McLauchlan (YZ) 'tweaked' her knee on the Saturday and did well to finish 2nd overall. Emma Davis (YZ) had a shocker Race 1 and was 15 seconds a lap slower than Duncan. Next race she improved that to 9 seconds and in the last race it was down to 5. Her Dad told me "Now that she has her Engineering Degree 'in the bag' she can now concentrate on her Motocross and get her fitness back to where it once was." She starts training with John Appel this week.

13 year old Courtney Duncan. Winner of two Auckland Champs titles - Women and 13-16yrs 85cc Class.
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Support Over.

Support Under.

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BAD LUCK STORY.
Goes to Cam Huggins fromSwanson in Auckland's West. Dr Rosie and the Medics had, had only bee stings to contend with until the last National 125 race when Hunua's Cam Kennedy never got a whip back, high-sided and did a tibia and fibia. Whilst they are tending to him the last race of the day (Nat. 250) is out and halfway through the second lap, at the end of Champion straight where you turn to go down the Supercross section, Cam Huggins crashes. It was rather rough and rutted and it's a 'nothing' crash. Cam tells the Medics he felt his left shoulder pop out as the bike cross rutted. Before he knows it, he is on his back and some how or other, he has a compound fracture on his lower left leg.

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CATCH UP.
• I had wondered why Jayden Jessup, who was not at Woodville, had not entered for Auckland Champs. He was there on crutches having had knee surgery on his right. Not keyhole either, a good 10cm scar to show for it. He is also booked in to have his right shoulder sorted as well so we won't see him back racing this year.
• Good to see Katherine Prumm there also - now out of her back-brace. She said it's strange not having the brace on and she has to be careful not to slouch. It's now going to be a twelve month rehab process before she has the rods out and then a time period before she can consider going racing again. KP did not say it but I should also mention that Yamaha should be commended for keeping her on her salary - Yamaha Europe that is.
• Daryl Hurley was not there but his mechanic Rennie Johnson was, looking after Australian Kieran Tisdale who rides for Suzuki Australia in the Under 19's. He finished 9th overall.
• Good to see the manufacturers accepting the Club's invitation to attend. They were all there on Sunday - in alpha order there was: Phill Haynes from Honda, Mike Wilkins from Kawasaki, Paul Ottaway from KTM and Peter Payne from Yamaha NZ.
• Paul Pavletich CEO of MNZ was also there Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.
• Also bumped into Shane Macdonald, Editor of DRD Magazine. Interestingly, Shane has resigned and finished last Friday having just finished the March issue.
• Sean Fogarty (aka Fogdog) was there watching as well. I had not seen Sean since his come-back at Fell's Farm. He said, "the screw heads in my left wrist were 'proud' and were aggravating the bone. I've had another operation to remove them and will be back on a bike in about a week's time. Whether that's the Location Homes / Red Baron Kawasaki setup (formerly Team West racing) I do not know."
• Grant Dobbyn (Hamish's Dad) said after racing: "Nice to be on a fast fresh bike. This was Katherine Prumm's YZ250F originally and only done a few hours so we have nick-named it Katherine." The bike goes back to Henderson Yamaha where it is kept 'fresh' and only used for racing.
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A 1991 MOTOCROSS DES NATIONS STORY
Back in 1991 the MXdesN ('des' changed to 'of' in 2004) Darryll King was in the New Zealand Team and had hurt himself so Tony Cooksley was called into replace him. Then he was on a KX500.
A 'guy' turned up from manufacturer Apico with riding gear for DK, who was no longer there. It was 'trick' gear in those days and was left in the team's rental caravan. The caravan went back and the gear still in the caravan's wardrobe.
Several year's later DK brings it up in conversation to Tony how 'neat' that Apico gear was.
In 2008 when Tony was back in Europe defending his 2007 title, he mentioned it to his Dutch photographer friend Dick Koers. Dick said he knew the caravan people and he mentioned it to them. "We still have it in the office" was their response.

To cut a long story short Tony presented it to DK on Saturday morning. Good omen for the FIM World Vets that DK is going to contest. The jersey has King No.1 on it.
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LEADING EDGE MOTOCROSS FACILITY.
That's what Mason Phillips is calling his Supercross come Arenacross set-up on the outskirts of Te Puke. Also now things have settled down he has set the hours as Wednesday 4pm tp 8pm and Saturday's from 8am to 12 noon.
Mason is off to Canada to ride for KTM Canada mid May.

ends

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