ROUND 1 NZ MX NATIONALS

SEPTEMBER 30, 2007: It’s one down and three to go as the dust cleared following round one of this season’s New Zealand Motocross Championships near Timaru today.

Three rounds remain in the series but the top contenders made their intentions very clear at the series opener at Pleasant Point on Sunday.

As the engines cooled at the end of the day, Mount Maunganui’s Cody Cooper (Honda), Hawera’s Luke Burkhart (Suzuki) and Cambridge’s Damien King (Yamaha) had shown themselves as the men most likely to succeed.

Cooper dominated the 500cc class, finishing 2-1-1 in his three outings, to end the day nine points clear of his nearest challenger, Hawera’s Daryl Hurley (Suzuki).

“It was a good weekend,” said Cooper (23) afterwards, understating his impressive performance.

“I was pretty tired actually, after flying back from the United States,” he said, after travelling home following New Zealand’s ill-fated tilt at the Motocross of Nations event near Washington DC.

“I felt like going for a sleep. Both Daryl (Hurley, his team-mate in the US) and I were yawning our heads off on the start line. I didn’t have a problem concentrating though once the gate dropped.”

Meanwhile, Burkhart was untouchable in the 250cc class, recording a hat-trick of wins to end the day 11 points clear of Rotorua’s Michael Phillips (Kawasaki) at the top of the table.

Defending 125cc champion King began his title defence in a positive fashion, finishing 2-1-1 and building a narrow three-point margin over Christchurch rider Justin McDonald (Honda).

Women’s world champion Katherine Prumm (Bombay, Kawasaki) was, not unexpectedly, too good for her opposition in the women’s class. Prumm easily won all three races to finish round one 13 points ahead of Auckland’s Nikki Scott (KTM).

The next round is near Rotorua on October 13-14.

Pic courtesy of RICE PHOTOGRAPHY