KEY POINTS:
It would be a brave man who would bet against New Zealand's Tony Cooksley.
The 51-year-old concrete cutter from Bombay, in South Auckland, was in a class of his own at the opening round of the Veterans World Cup motocross championships in Belgium on Sunday.
The Veterans World Cup shared the day's programme with the 12th of 15 rounds in this year's MX1 and MX2 world championships.
Yamaha ace Cooksley was unbeaten in both races around the treacherous circuit at Namur, a course than spectacularly winds among giant unforgiving trees and around the stone battlements of an ancient hilltop castle.
Cooksley, riding his favourite Yamaha YZ250 two-stroke machine, was fastest in practice, in timed qualifying and in both his Veterans World Cup races, leading each of them from start to finish and building a 10-point lead in the championship with round two set for Donington Park, England, in three weeks.
"I am so happy, not only to win the first round but to win at Namur", said Cooksley afterwards.
With his performance at Namur on Sunday, Cooksley is on target to win the world title in England on August 26. Cooksley leads Frenchman Paul Barbara (Kawasaki) and Belgian Phillippe Dejong (Honda) at the top of the standings.
Also racing in the Veterans World Cup were former world champions Harry Everts, father of 10-time world champion Stefan Everts, and Alain Pichon, father of multiple 250cc world champion Mickael Pichon.
Everts senior finished fifth overall on Sunday and Pichon senior was seventh for the day.
Cooksley raced a powerful Yamaha YZF450 to eighth overall at the same venue last year in the Senior Championship class for riders aged 40-50 years - but has since had a birthday and, now aged 51, the Kiwi legend became eligible for the older category, that he is favoured to win.
Cooksley's lap times last season were 6sec faster than the best of the over-51 aged riders and it's no surprise that the Kiwi should be so dominant this time around.
Meanwhile, fellow Kiwi Josh Coppins could only be a spectator at the Belgian GP, looking on as his MX1 world championship rival, Belgian Steve Ramon (Suzuki), nibbled into his once massive points lead.
From 107 points in front and seemingly cruising to the world title, Coppins lead is down to just 43 points.
He crashed out of the points at the Czech Republic GP a fortnight ago and sat out the Belgian GP as he nursed his injuries. The Yamaha factory star is expected to be back in action at the next event on the world circuit, the Irish GP in a fortnight.
