Kiwi Cody Cooper rode to victory at Wodonga in the Pro Open class, his first of the season. Image: kajx COMMUNICATIONS

New Zealander and Team Rockstar Motul Suzuki rider Cody Cooper won the sixth round of the 2010 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals at Wodonga on Sunday 27 June, as CDR Rockstar Yamaha’s Jay Marmont has retained his series lead and now sits 16 points clear of Kawasaki Racing Team’s Billy Mackenzie.

With the thermostat dropping to minus two degrees in the early hours of the morning, riders were in for a chilly start to the round.

After struggling in the first half of the season, Cooper finally found some consistent form, stringing together a run of strong rides to win the overall, however he wasn’t alone with a number of Aussie riders stepping it up a gear and putting on a spectacular show for fans at the Wodonga circuit.

“The last few weeks have been massive for me and the team,” Cooper said. “I’ve been over here and we’ve been working so hard to get the bike right and getting me sorted and the entire team has done an amazing job.

“We made some changes to my program as well, and I’ll even make some more changes as a result of today which will be even more positive. I’m pumped to be up on the top step and certainly hope to keep it this way for the rest of the series.”

Cooper was fastest in qualifying, however with Honda privateer Dean Ferris merely 0.001 of a second behind him, and four other riders all within one second, the day was shaping up to be massive.

In the first moto, Mackenzie looked to continue his strong form from previous rounds, leading for the majority of the race with Marmont, CDR Rockstar Yamaha’s Cheyne Boyd, Cooper, and Cougar Bourbon Honda Thor Racings Todd Waters all chopping and changing until the final laps of the moto.

Cooper came from seventh place at the beginning of the race, gradually picking his way through the field to catch and pass Mackenzie on the very last lap to take the win.

The Kiwi continued his strong form in the second moto, scoring the holeshot and taking command of the race ahead of JDR Motorex KTM’s Tye Simmonds and Mackenzie.

While the front runners didn’t change, Marmont was facing challenges of his own; trying to keep as many championship points ahead of Mackenzie as possible.

At the flag, Cooper had stormed out to an eight second lead, ahead of Simmonds with Mackenzie wrapping up the moto in third.

The final moto, however, belonged to Simmonds taking the lead ahead of Mackenzie and reigning champ Marmont within the first lap.

At times it seemed Mackenzie was catching the 18-year-old, however the determined rider powered on to take his first Pro Opens win since joining the class this year.

Again Mackenzie was forced to settle for second place ahead of Marmont who managed to hold onto third despite a late challenge from Cooper.

“I’m happy to still have the red leader plate, but to be honest I’m disappointed with my performance today and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Marmont said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself and I ride quite tight, which is probably why I pumped up in the first moto and made a few mistakes.

“I’ve got to go home and work harder because I want to win races – I want to win the championship by winning races, not merely by coming second or third each time.”

JDR Motorex KTM’s PJ Larsen continued his domination of the Pro Lites class by taking out the round in convincing fashion once again.

Larsen kicked off the day qualifying fastest ahead of Serco Yamaha’s Ford Dale and Team Rockstar Motul Suzuki’s Lawson Bopping. He then proceeded to dominate for the rest of the day, taking the lead in all three races and appearing unstoppable at every turn.

“I’m really happy going three for three,” Larsen said. “I got three good starts on the concrete today but the track was a little tricky and it was easy to make mistakes on. I just really tried to break away quickly, find my pace and just settle in for the ride.

“There’s more that I could do in those first three laps, but I just need the pace to get a good gap and after that I just keep my eye on the guys behind me and set into a pace the same as theirs so they can’t catch me!”

In the first moto, Larsen was chased down by teammate Ryan Marmont, with Dale and Kawasaki Racing Team’s Codie Mackie close behind. While Dale settled into second place, Mackie and Marmont battled it out for the remaining podium place, with Marmont overcoming the Kawasaki rider to take third.

A red flag within the first two laps of the second moto had riders back at the gate waiting patiently for a re-start, however when gates dropped it was a repeat performance as Larsen once again flew through to take the holeshot and a commanding lead.

South Australian and Serco Yamaha rider Kirk Gibbs managed to keep pace with Larsen when he broke away in the first few laps; however the closest he could get was still more than three seconds behind, before the American rider slipped away.

The third moto wasn’t much different expect it was new recruit to the JDR Motorex KTM Racing satellite team – Queenslander Brendan Harrison, who was fighting for second place, overcoming challenges from Gibbs, Dale, Mackie and UK rider and Serco Yamaha mounted Jason Dougan.

With a quick look over his shoulder in the last lap, Larsen knew he was in the clear and with a pump of the fist, rode to finish the round with a perfect score.

While Larsen was enjoying the spoils at the front of the pack, Wodonga local and former Australian Women’s Motocross Champ Kristy Gillespie, was making the most of her wild card entry to line up against the guys, and with 28-30-25 scorecard from the weekend, she can certainly come away with her head held high.

“I did alright out there today,” Gillespie said. “I got 28th in the first race, but I ran off the track in the second one and got a bit out of shape which took a bit out of me. I think the last race was probably my best one, I went harder earlier on and it helped me to get ahead.

“PJ Larsen, in that last race, came around to lap me, and it was on this back sweeper, and I’d been taking sort of the same line as him and he just went like 20 cms inside and missed all the bumps that I was hitting. You just look at that and go ‘wow’ – that’s pretty much the best thing about riding with the guys, you can follow them for at least half a turn and learn so much from them so I really enjoyed it.”

Yamaha Junior Development Team rider Ross Beaton won the Under 19s class after it appeared MX Rad Coastal KTM’s Josh Cachia would continue to build on his championship lead, however despite winning the first moto, he couldn’t hold back former Tasmanian Beaton, who was in fine form, taking out the last two motos and the round win.

“It’s been a great day today,” Beaton said. “All the boys on the team have worked so hard; we put in the hours and do what we need to do to get on top. It’s all just finally paying off and working for me so it’s been an awesome.

“All it takes is a few race wins to close the gap on the Series leader, and hopefully get the points back and go from there. I love having the number one, I’ve had second place plenty of times before so it’s good to be up on the top step.”

Beaton has now made some inroads to reigning in Cachia’s points lead, and now sits 26 points behind the Kilmore local.

“I definitely wanted to do better out there today,” Cachia said. “I can’t hold my head too low today, Ross has still got a long way to go – I’ve still got a lot of points between us so if I stay this consistent I can’t be beaten in the championship.

“I’m doing what I want to do which is winning – and second just doesn’t satisfy me anymore! It’s tough, I’ve come second and I feel like I’m not even in the top ten, so I won’t be satisfied unless I get that number one – so I’ll definitely come out fighting at the next round.”

The series will continue at Moree in New South Wales on 18 July, the penultimate weekend of the 2010 season.

Click here for detailed results