Honda's Cooper Secures Third Overall With Moto Win at Coolum

The heat and black sand terrain made for unpredictable racing at the final round of the Australian Motocross Championships at Coolum, with the factory No Fear Honda team finishing up the year on the podium.

Following on from the success of the previous two rounds, Pro Open rider Cody Cooper once again started the meeting in perfect form with a number one qualifying position.

Cooper looked as though he would be invincible after winning the first moto of the day in style from Daryl Hurley and Troy Carroll.

After coming to grief at the start of moto two when another rider took him out, Cooper remounted and was making his charge until he once again took a hit mid jump. The 23-year-old rider, who is off to America shortly to represent his home country in the Motocross des Nations, unfortunately hit a rock off the side of the track and had to retire.

“Moto one obviously went really well. Even though I was feeling the heat, I got into the lead and just held it without too much trouble.”

“That second moto was no good though. I pulled up with some pain in my foot from crashing so I’ll have to get that checked out when I get home.”

“On the positive side, I’m really stoked to finish on the podium again this year. I was really hoping to finish second - to improve on my third place finish from 2006 – but it wasn’t to be.”

“Now, I’m concentrating on doing the best I can for myself and for Honda over in the US.”

While Cooper took the placing for the manufacturer, young Kade Mosig certainly deserved the “most impressive rookie season” award.

Mosig finished fourth on the day, his best result to date after two consistent rides.

“It was good to finish this season on a high note,” he said. “I didn’t get a great start in either race really so I just tried to pass as many riders as I could early on. Eventually I was just running the race on my own with no one around me.”

“I thought I was running around ninth and didn’t even realise I was actually in fifth until about 20 minutes through the first moto when my mechanic let me know on the pit board.”

Craig Anderson also started off the day relatively well with a decent qualifying position. However, a bad start in moto one saw him have to battle up from 38th position.

“I had to work really hard in that first race to finish sixth so I was pretty happy with that ride,” Ando said.

By the afternoon, the 2006 Champion couldn’t string together the same momentum however, and found himself struggling to make ground in moto two.

“I don’t know really what happened except to say I was struggling pretty badly in that race and just didn’t seem to have the set up right, so I made the decision to pull off the track instead of risking another crash.”

On the Team’s final standings, Manager Philip Harrison said he was very proud of his riders.

“It is a shame that Cody couldn’t take second overall as I think he truly deserved it, and showed that he had the speed to take it on the day. It was just unfortunate he crashed out while trying so hard in that second moto,” Harrison said.

“Kade was also extremely impressive this year and had a very strong end to the season with a sixth place overall in his rookie year with the pros.”