Motocross: Cooper cruises to MX1 title

Mount Maunganui's Cody Cooper (centre) finished top of the MX1 class podium on Sunday, with Australian Kirk Gibbs (left) the runner-up and Rotorua's John Phillips third. Photo / Andy McGechan

Rotorua rider John Phillips has finished third at the 2015 New Zealand Motocross Championships in the MX1 division.

The four-round New Zealand championships wrapped up near Pukekohe on Sunday with plenty of excitement but few surprises.

Mount Maunganui's Cody Cooper (The Honda Shop Racing Team CRF450) won the MX1 (450cc) title, Australia's Jay Wilson (Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team YZ250F) collected the MX2 (250cc) class crown and Hamilton's Josiah Natzke (CMR Red Bull KTM 125) took the 125cc class title in the JT Racing-sponsored series.

These results really raised no eyebrows, with the scene set for this outcome at the previous round of the series near Rotorua a week earlier.

Cooper, Wilson and Natzke only needed safe and solid rides at Sunday's final round to secure their respective titles.

What was eagerly anticipated at Pukekohe on Sunday was to learn how the rest of the podium positions would form.

Australian KTM rider Kirk Gibbs came on strong at the final round, registering a 7-1-1 scorecard in the day's three races and strengthened his position to second in the series standings, with Rotorua's Phillips (The Honda Shop Racing Team CRF450) settling for third overall.

Cooper rode conservatively and wrapped up the title after winning the first MX1 race of the day, before finishing runner-up in his next two outings at Pukekohe.

"I was quite relaxed today. I knew I didn't have to do much to win the title. I'd really set myself up with the results from the earlier rounds," 31-year-old Cooper said afterwards.

In the MX2 class, Wilson scored a hat-trick of wins to again dominate, but Takaka's Hamish Harwood (CMR Red Bull, KTM) managed to defend his spot at No2 in the class thanks to his 2-3-3 results.

Amberley's Micah McGoldrick (Timaru Honda CRF250) was again solid with 8-4-4 results at Pukekohe and so held on to his position at third overall in the class.

In the 125cc class, Waikato's Natzke was in sublime form, scoring another hat-trick and making it 11 wins from 12 races in the series.

Positions changed behind him, with Taupo's Cohen Chase (Total BikesportNZ.com Yamaha YZ125) doing enough with his 3-5-3 results to leapfrog Ngatea's Ben Broad (CMR Red Bull BikesportNZ.com KTM) and snatch back the No2 spot. Broad finished 8-3-4 and was forced to settle for the third step on the national championship podium.

- NZ Motocross Championships final standings:

MX1 (450cc): Cody Cooper (Mount Maunganui) Honda, 263 points, 1; Kirk Gibbs (Australia) KTM, 239, 2; John Phillips (Rotorua) Honda, 216, 3.

MX2 (250cc): Jay Wilson (Australia) Yamaha, 290, 1; Hamish Harwood (Takaka) KTM, 240, 2; Micah McGoldrick (Amberley) Honda, 206, 3.

125cc: Josiah Natzke (Hamilton) KTM, 288, 1; Cohen Chase (Taupo) Yamaha, 231, 2; Benjamin Broad (Ngatea) KTM, 227, 3.