Summercross 2018

As December had come but not quite yet gone the New Year loomed right around the corner, but not before the annual Honda Summercross hosted by the Bay of Plenty Motorcycle Club at the Awakaponga motocross track near Whakatane. The annual event held between Christmas and New Year always attracts New Zealand's top off-road talent, and 2018 was no different.

Always a great watch the Youth MX class did not disappoint, it seemed Brodie Connolly and Thomas Watts were in a race of their own. After four laps a collision between two riders called an end to race 2, with half points being allocated to the riders in their current positions. Once the riders were safe and the track was cleared race 2 part 2 kicked off with the youth riders battling for the remaining half points in a four-lap sprint. Connolly claimed victory in three of the four races but due to a 2-minute penalty from jumping under the yellow twice in race 1 was dropped to 20th, enabling Watts to claim the overall 2018 YMX Summercross title, great riding lads and the best of luck for the 2019 season.

If you'd asked who was going win the women's overall, I wouldn't have been able to give an answer, close nail-biting racing throughout the day saw the women's events become the most interesting to watch. Chloe Steel showed impressive skill off the start gate claiming first place after the first lap in all three races but unfortunately lacked the pace to keep her pursuers at bay. Roma Edwards and Rachael Archer battled it out during all three races, Edwards won both race 1 and 2 with Archer winning the third, enough for Edwards to claim the overall win with Archer finishing runner-up just one-point shy of Edwards.

Honda’s Wyatt Chase, the reigning MX2 Summercross Champion would have expected a difficult day ahead with his challenge coming in the form of Altherm JCR Yamaha’s Maximus Purvis. Both Chase and Purvis rode well but it seemed nothing could top the speed of Purvis, claiming victory in the first four races however receiving a 1-minute penalty for jumping under the yellow in race 4, dropping him to 15th and giving Chase a 7-point lead heading into the final race. Chase got off to a great start in the final race, leading the pack with Purvis sitting around 6th. Unfortunately, a crash for Chase saw him fall to 6th place while a flawlessly executed final lap joker lane gave Purvis the final race win and saw him claim the overall 2018 MX2 Summercross title.

After returning from his international campaign in the AMA Outdoor Motocross Series where he finished 11th overall and shortly after representing New Zealand at the MXoN, Cody Cooper was favourite to claim the 2018 Summercross MX1 title, however victory wouldn’t be so easy with Rhys Carter, Cohen Chase and Josh Coppins all lining up at the start gate ready to battle it out with the Honda rider.

The starts were all Altherm JCR Yamaha team manager Josh Coppins, the 41-year old showing us he still has what it takes to take on the best in New Zealand by leading each of the five races from the start. Though his lack of race fitness from his long retirement of professional racing showed as he dropped off the top spot. Carter rode consistently throughout the day but lacked a little pace to claim victory over Cooper granting him second overall ahead of former international star Coppins. Honda’s Cody Cooper was the man to beat, though it seemed no one could. Winning 4 of the 5 races was enough for Cooper to claim the 2018 MX1 Summercross title, his 4th consecutive and 5th overall. Kawasaki’s Cohen Chase the recently crowned NZ Supercross Champion and Yamaha privateer Hadleigh Knight rounded out the top 5.

While Honda managed to claim victory in the premier MX1 class courtesy of Cody Cooper, it appeared that the Yamaha was the bike to have as they claimed victory in the MX2 (Maximus Purvis), second, third and fifth in the MX1 (Rhys Carter, Josh Coppins and Hadleigh Knight) and took out all top 5 positions in the WMX (Roma Edwards, Rachael Archer, Amie Roberts, Samantha Kelly and Jessie Waterhouse).

The Honda Summercross is always a great indication for teams and riders of where they’re at heading into the 2019 season. With the Woodville GP just around the corner on the 26th and 27th of January. Following the Woodville GP is the beginning of the four round MX Nationals in Taranaki taking place on the 3rd of February. Can Cody Cooper reclaim his MX1 title, or will the 2018 Supercross Champion Cohen Chase be crowned national champion? Will Maximus Purvis battle it out with Wyatt Chase in the MX2 or will he keep to the 125cc class as he did last year? All I can say is bring on the 2019 season!

 

Youth Motocross
Pos # Name Overall Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4
1 912 Thomas Watts 136 50 25 23 38
2 88 Brodie Connolly 123 25 23 25 50
3 711 Ethan Waters 123 43 19.5 19.5 41
4 393 Toby Winiata 117.5 37 20 21.5 39
5 28 Jack Dunlop 115.5 40 18.5 20 37
6 807 Clayton Roeske 115 41 21.5 9.5 43
7 32 James Rountree 113.5 46 19 8.5 40
8 164 Reece McBride 112 38 11.5 16.5 46
9 26 Kian de Lacy 105 39 17 18 31
10 279 Carlin Hedley 100 35 17.5 13.5 34

 

Women's Motocross
Pos # Name Overall Race 1 Race 2 Race 3
1 79 Roma Edwards 143 50 50 43
2 65 Rachael Archer 142 46 46 50
3 143 Amie Roberts 127 40 41 46
4 178 Samantha Kelly 125 41 43 41
5 214 Jessie Waterhouse 122 43 40 39
6 139 Chloe Steel 118 39 39 40
7 118 Zara Gray 112 37 38 37
8 611 Courtney Clapham 110 35 37 38
9 269 Amy Corston 105 36 35 34
10 35 Hannah Powell 103 38 36 29

 

MX2
Pos # Name Overall Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5
1 44 Maximus Purvis 231 50 50 50 31 50
2 302 Wyatt Chase 227 46 46 46 50 39
3 5 Micah McGoldrick 205 43 43 39 39 41
4 338 Brad Groombridge 204 41 38 41 41 43
5 98 Ethan Martens 201 40 41 37 43 40
6 N Ciaran Naran 200 39 35 40 40 46
7 491 Sam Cuthbertson 200 38 40 38 46 38
8 555 Cam Dillon 173 29 36 33 38 37
9 157 Logan Maddren 171 33 32 36 35 35
10 615 Joel Johnson 169 32 30 34 37 36

 

MX1
Pos # Name Overall Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5
1 121 Cody Cooper 246 50 50 50 46 50
2 4 Rhys Carter 234 46 46 46 50 46
3 6 Josh Coppins 209 43 41 41 43 41
4 7 Cohen Chase 198 41 40 43 34 40
5 777 Hadleigh Knight 197 39 38 36 41 43
6 49 Mason Wilkie 186 37 35 38 38 38
7 394 Richard Horne 184 36 37 35 39 37
8 15 Sam Guise 173 35 34 32 37 35
9 60 Jacob Steel 172 32 36 33 35 36
10 27 Daniel White 164 33 33 31 33 34

 

10 Years of Summercross Champions
2009 2010 2011 2012
MX1 Ben Townley MX1 Michael Phillips MX1 Ben Townley MX1 Ben Townley
MX2 Darryl King MX2 Brad Groombridge MX2 Cameron Dillon MX2 Rhys Carter
WMX Courtney Duncan WMX Courtney Duncan WMX Emma Davis WMX Courtney Duncan
YMX Kayne Lamont YMX Ethan Martens YMX Dion Picard YMX Hadleigh Knight
2013 2014 2015 2016
MX1 Cody Cooper MX1 Rhys Carter MX1 Cody Cooper MX1 Cody Cooper
MX2 Scott Columb MX2 Michael Phillips MX2 Josiah Natzke MX2 Josiah Natzke
WMX Taylar Rampton WMX Nikki Scott WMX Jessie Waterhouse WMX Courtney Duncan
YMX Logan Blackburn YMX Wyatt Chase YMX Trent Collins YMX Trent Collins
2017 2018  
MX1 Cody Cooper MX1 Cody Cooper
MX2 Wyatt Chase MX2 Maximus Purvis
WMX Letitia Alabaster WMX Roma Edwards
YMX Ryan Gwynn YMX Thomas Watts
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