Motocross: Micheal Phillips out to realise title dream

Rotorua's Michael Phillips (Honda CRF450) is hoping to win the main Woodville trophy for the first time this season. Photo/Andy McGechan

Rotorua's Michael Phillips would like nothing better than to satisfy his sponsors, thrill his many fans and realise a life-long dream.

He can do all three things this weekend if he wins the Honda New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville, near Palmerston North.

The only trouble is the two-time former MX2 New Zealand champion is going to have to muscle his way past the title favourite, fellow Honda star and reigning national MX1 champion Cody Cooper.

He will also be up against dozens of other fire-breathing superstars among more than 500 entrants, many of them arriving from overseas for the event on Saturday and Sunday.

"I've won at Woodville a couple of times in the MX2 (250cc) class, but never on the big bike," he said. "To win the MX1 class and the feature race at Woodville would be a dream come true. It's one of New Zealand's premier titles.

"It's doubly important for me to do well at Woodville this weekend because I need to try to impress a few race team bosses from Australia. I don't have a ride in Australia yet for 2014 and I need to put on a good show this weekend."

The racing will also help prepare Phillips, brother of fellow motocross rider John Phillips, for the New Zealand Motocross Championships in February and March.

This weekend the Woodville event celebrates its 53rd birthday. It has grown from humble beginnings, in 1961, to now rate as one of the biggest stand-alone motocross events in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Honda-sponsored race meeting will be staged on the same familiar farmland track, at the eastern end of the Manawatu Gorge, that has hosted the racing every year since the inaugural running.

With riders arriving from Australia, Britain, Japan, and New Caledonia, Phillips' mission to win the main Woodville trophy has perhaps never been tougher.

However, it will probably be Kiwi rivals such as Cooper, Taupo's Brad Groombridge (Suzuki RM-Z450) and Christchurch's Justin McDonald (Honda CRF450) who will rate among his biggest threats.

Phillips has come close to winning the event in the past, finishing runner-up in the feature race at Woodville in 2011, behind Motueka's Josh Coppins.

He led the prestigious main race that year, right up until two corners from the end when he dropped his bike in a deep rut and gifted the victory to Coppins.

Phillips finished third equal in the MX1 class at Woodville last season, level with McDonald but behind winner Ben Townley and Mount Maunganui's Cooper.

Phillips' build-up to this year's edition of Woodville has been going well.

The 27-year-old rider finished a close runner-up to Groombridge at the recent King of the Mountain Motocross in Taranaki.