Bay motocross racers stay in touch

Bay of Plenty motocross racers Michael Phillips and Cody Cooper have consolidated top 10 positions in the MX1 (450cc) class of the Australian Motocross Nationals with three rounds remaining.
Honda racer Phillips (Mt Maunganui) finished sixth at last weekend's sixth round raced at Coonabarabran in New South Wales while Cooper (Papamoa) raced his Suzuki to eighth place.
Phillips holds sixth place in the championship standings and Cooper remains in eighth place as he makes up ground after missing round three due to injury.
Top placings were shared among the leading riders in the four moto format on Sunday with Yamaha's Jay Marmont taking the overall win by just one point ahead of series leader Dean Ferris (Kawasaki) while Kiwi star Josh Coppins (Yamaha) was third.
Phillips' scorecard for the day was 6-6-8-7 in the four races to earn 57 points while Cooper's day comprised a 9-7-9-9 effort and a 50 point total.
Ferris still leads the series with 461 points from Scotland's Billy McKenzie on 448 and Coppins on 429. The next round is at Albury, NSW, on July 3.
Tarawera 100
The Tarawera Trail Bike Riders Club is gearing up for the 34th annual Tarawera 100 offroad motorcycle endurance race next month.
This year's Bay Honda-sponsored Tarawera 100 on Saturday, July 9, will provide a familiar challenge for the expected 200-plus riders - four laps of a roughly 40km farmland, maize paddock and forestry course near Kawerau makes up the 160km (100-mile) event.
Tarawera Trail Bike Riders Club president Steve McIlroy says there will be some course changes this year that will make the event even more challenging.
"We've changed it quite a lot and thrown a bit more technical stuff at the riders this year," said McIlroy.
"And there will be a few changes around the start area because the weather means we don't have all of the maize paddock area available to us."
Last year, 220 riders faced the starter with international motocross ace Cody Cooper taking his second win, completing the distance in a fraction under three hours and leading home motocrossers Shaun Fogarty and Damien King.
The Tarawera 100 is a unique event that brings together top riders from the two-wheel enduro, cross-country and motocross disciplines as well as recreational trail riders. Riders not only require speed and endurance but efficient pit stops can be a decisive factor for the front runners. The start venue, pits and spectator viewing section is located at Tahuna Rd, Te Teko and the race gets under way with a spectacular dead engine "shot gun" start at 10am.
Rain the spoiler
Heavy rain postponed two local motorsport events on Sunday. The BOP Motorcycle Club called off the third round of its Yamaha Winter MX series at Awakaponga due to track flooding. Racing has been rescheduled for July 17.
The motorsport area at the TECT All Terrain Park was also unusable on Sunday and Motorsport BOP postponed its gravel autocross till this Sunday. The autocross will start at 10.15am.
Thomasen on tarmac
The promising rally career of Tauranga's Ben Thomasen takes a new turn this weekend when he competes in a tarmac rally for the first time.
The former motocross racer teamed with co-driver Rachel Pittams is seeded 22nd for the Taranaki Tarmac Rally on Saturday which covers eight special stages totalling about 140km on roads around the Taranaki region.
The event is round two of the Top Half northern region rally series and Thomasen drove his Subaru Impreza STI to second place at the opening round last month.
Also competing in Taranaki and looking to get their season started are Tauranga's Wayne Pittams and Shayne Eaton who are seeded 18th in a Subaru Impreza STI. An under-bonnet fire ended their run in the second stage of the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally which was the series opener.
The Taranaki Tarmac Rally entry list is headed by former winners Neil Marshall (New Plymouth) and Glenn Smith (Hawera) seeded first and second in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions with former national rally champion Joe McAndrew (Wellington) driving a Mazda RX7 seeded third.