Honda’s Cooper Hangs on to Third; Ando Cops Further Blow at Newcastle

No Fear Honda’s Cody Cooper has retained his third place championship status after a solid top five finish at Newcastle’s round four last weekend.

Cooper qualified in fourth but couldn’t quite better those results after average starts in both motos where he clamoured for a fifth and sixth place finish.

“It was hard work getting the finishes I did and my starts again let me down. But I’ve hung on to third place overall so I’m happy about that.”

A capacity Raymond Terrace crowd came along to watch the action where Honda’s Craig Anderson also started off the day well, finishing second fastest in qualifying behind US based Chad Reed.

“Ando” went into the round still suffering from a partially separated AC joint, an injury he sustained at round one which still has not fully healed.

He was also involved in a first corner crash in moto two that resulted in him reinjuring his thumb, and aggravating the shoulder further.

“This was a disappointing round for me. I lost the strength in my shoulder in that first race and dropped back a bit,” Ando explained.

“After the pile up in moto two, I literally couldn’t hang on to the bike so I had to pull out. I’ve managed to hurt the thumb I dislocated at Broadford so it’s not feeling too good at the moment.”

Ando is undergoing further scans this week to determine the extent of his injuries, and decide how much time he may require off the bike to recover properly.

“I am pretty down at the moment, but I think I may need to give my body a real chance to heal if I am going to at all be competitive.”

Young recruit Kade Mosig also had a round he would rather forget after reinjuring his ankle in moto two and having to pull out.

“Not a great weekend for me unfortunately,” he said.

“I just struggled from the start, and then when I did start to get some pace and work up to fifth place, I managed to twist my ankle again.”

Pip Harrison (Team Manager) said it was a tough round for the guys overall.

“We will have to see how their injuries go over the next couple of weeks. Ando and Kade definitely need to recover a bit.”

“Cody is going well; very consistent which is what is needed to finish on the podium. If he could get better starts, I’m sure he would be winning more races.”

“It was also great to see Digsy (Anderson) get great results for the Lites team, and to take second in the Championship.”