Motorsport: Cody Cooper super
A healthy Cody Cooper has raced back to winning form in the Australian Motocross Championship.
The Papamoa racer, who rides the MX1 class for the Rockstar Motul Suzuki squad in Australia, showed he was over the injuries he suffered last month by winning two of the four motos and claiming the overall win at round five of the Aussie Nationals in Toowoomba on Sunday.
Excelling in the muddy and deeply rutted conditions at the Echo Valley track, Cooper's scorecard for the day was 1-2-1-3 with the haul of 92 points earning him the overall win by a four-point margin from Scotland's Billy McKenzie (Kawasaki).
Series leader Dean Ferris (Kawasaki) was third but McKenzie has closed the gap at the top of the leaderboard to only nine points while Kiwi Josh Coppins (Yamaha) remains third but has fallen 29 points behind Ferris in the standings.
Cooper's winning effort lifted him from 13th in the standings into eighth place. His crash at round two while leading the championship saw him sustain bruised ribs and a collapsed lung. He missed the third round of the championship and managed only 13th place at round four.
"It was just so good to be able to race and be competitive.
"I have not been able to ride the bike much lately, although I am not now in any pain," Cooper said.
Honda racer Michael Phillips (Mt Maunganui) continued his consistent season in Australia for the Carlton Dry Honda Thor Racing team.
Phillips came away from Toowoomba with a sixth, eighth and two sevenths from the four-moto format and consolidated his sixth position in the title chase.
The Aussie Champs now take a month-long break before the sixth of the nine rounds at Coonabaraban, NSW, on June 19.
