Motorsport: Old rivals revel in weekend bonanza

Motueka's Josh Coppins (Yamaha)won the 50th Woodville trophy. Photo / BikesportNZ.com

The corks popped and the champagne flowed like never before at this year's 50th annual Woodville Motocross ... and that was regardless of the racing.

A three-day festival of motorcycling was staged to mark the half-century that has passed since New Zealand's largest standalone motocross was created by Palmerston North man Tim Gibbes in 1961.

The Manawatu-Orion Motorcycle Club, celebrating its own 100th anniversary this year, put on a spectacular series of shows over the weekend, from mini races on Friday and a freestyle motocross display in The Square in Palmerston North on Saturday evening, right through to Sunday's main event - the Honda-sponsored senior Woodville GP.

A winner of the main prize in 1962, Gibbes and many of his old rivals from that decade were on hand to cheer as Motueka's Josh Coppins became the historic 50th winner of the Woodville trophy on Sunday afternoon.

Although the results show that Coppins (Yamaha) won both MX1 (open class) races and the main race, the 10-lap Invitation International race, he did not have it all his own way with Mount Maunganui's Cody Cooper (Suzuki), Rotorua's Michael Phillips (Honda) and Christchurch's Justin McDonald (Honda) threatening at all times.

Phillips actually led the prestigious main race right until two corners from the end, when he shockingly dropped his bike in a deep rut and gifted victory to Coppins.

It was a stunning finish to the race but the sensations didn't finish there for Coppins.

Back in the pits immediately afterwards, Coppins took a cellphone call from his partner, Lisa, not so much to inquire about how the racing was going but for her to report that she had just given birth, only 50 minutes earlier, to their second daughter, Elsie.

The smile on Coppins' face therefore had double significance. It was therefore something of an understatement when he put down the phone and remarked to a crowd of well-wishers "this is my lucky day".

"I thought I might get this weekend's racing done before the birth ... it didn't happen that way in the end," he said.

"As for the big race here, I just keep the pressure on Mike [Phillips]. He was making a few mistakes and I thought that if I applied pressure right to the end, it might work in my favour. That's all it took in the end."

A disappointed Phillips was philosophical.

"I had hit that rut perfectly every other lap. It was quite a tricky corner. I bet Josh couldn't believe his luck."

Meanwhile in other racing, Hamilton 42-year-old Darryll King (Yamaha) served notice on the sport's rising stars that he's still the reigning royal in the MX2 (250cc) class, winning the day with 3-1 results, enough to edge out Taupo's Cameron Dillon (Honda) and Mangakino's Kayne Lamont (Suzuki) for the overall win.

While former world 500cc No2 King may have wrapped up his international career a few years ago, both Dillon and Lamont are just branching out on theirs. Both teenagers leave for the United Kingdom for a season of British championship racing in a few weeks.

Waitakere teenager Ethan Martens (Yamaha) won the 125cc GP class convincingly, winning both races in style to shade Tauranga's Scott Barr-Smith (KTM) and Atiamuri's Dion Picard (Suzuki) for the overall prize.

It was a monster weekend for Picard, who was the big winner during Saturday's junior race programme, the Suzuki star winning both the 14-16 years' 250cc four-stroke class title and the 15-16 years' 125cc title, as well as going on to win the Champion-of-Champions crown for 125-250cc riders.