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Honda - Press Release:
Pro lite rider Cody Cooper worked the muddy clay based conditions like a motocross machine at Horsham this weekend, winning both races to retain his series lead in the eight round Mr MX series.
Showing little in the pressure stakes, Cooper put on an incredible display of riding and confirmed that getting the best start is not always the key to winning.
With the rain set in for the day, Honda veteran Troy Dorron set the pace in race one and pulled out a six second lead for the first two thirds of the 30 minute plus competition.
After an average start, Cody found himself around fifth and needing to do some serious work to catch his No Fear team mate.
That’s exactly what the lad from Tauranga, NZ did as he put his head down to come up through the pack and take the win.
Moto 2 was a similar race for Cooper as he came out of the first corner well back from the leaders. Cooper’s determination and absolute love of riding in the mud came to the fore at around the twenty minute mark. From then on, he was unstoppable passing Taylor (Yamaha) and Reardon (Kawasaki) to take the number one position.
Dorron also put in a huge ride in Moto2. After falling off on the first lap and bending the clutch on his CRF250, Doz found himself back in 19th place. That didn’t stop the 32 year old Victorian from working his way up to finish fourth, even with a diminished machine.
The two riders had this to say about the weekend’s racing: “This makes it four out of four for me so far for this series,” Cooper said. “These races are relatively long so I don’t get too stressed if I don’t make the perfect start every time. It just doesn’t always happen that way so I’ve had to concentrate on rhythm, pace and picking the right lines.”
Dorron is also pleased with his results for the day which have helped him retain his second position in the series. “I’m happy with the way race one went even though I didn’t win. It can be tough being out the front in these conditions. I know Coops is really good in the wet too so I’m not surprised he got passed me,” Troy said.
“As far as race two goes, I’m more than happy with my finish considering I didn’t have use of my clutch.”
Going into round two, overall Pro Open series leader Shayne King was confident about retaining his position.
After two fiercely fought battles with his brother Darryll (Yamaha) resulting in two second places for the day, Shayne came out on top with a seven point gap.
Both motos saw the brothers pitted against each other from start to finish, banging bars and – much to the crowd’s delight - continually passing one another in the final laps.
Shayne led Moto 1 most of the way but due to a bit of arm pump and having his elder brother right on his tail, DK got the better of him just before the chequered flag.
While the other New Zealander, Corey Sargent (Full Throttle Honda) pulled out an amazing lead in Moto 2, the Kings were left to wrestle for second and third position. Shayne kept DK at bay on the slippery track ultimately giving him the points lead in the series.
“I wasn’t really ready for DK when he passed me in race one,” Shayne said. “I didn’t have a big enough gap. I think we must have passed each other about 3 or 4 times on that last one so it was good racing. I just don’t like finishing second!”
“Moto2 was still close but I managed to keep in front of him. There was no way I was going to catch Corrie as I was too busy blocking Darryll. I’m happy enough with today’s results and I congratulate Cody on his hard work as well.”
Round three of the Maxxis Australian Motocross Championship will be held at Coolum (Qld) on June 6.
