Motorsport: Weekend to party at Woodville event

Justin McDonald, of Christchurch, will defend his Woodville crown. Photo / Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

The Manawatu-Orion Motorcycle Club is throwing a party and it's expected to be a hot and dirty affair - and perhaps just a bit noisy too.

The club celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and will kick off the celebration this weekend by again staging New Zealand's largest stand-alone motocross event, the Woodville Motocross Grand Prix.

It's also a party within a party because the Honda-sponsored Woodville event will mark its 50th running by using the same piece of turf at the eastern end of the Manawatu Gorge that first hosted the event in 1961.

It's a festival affair with three days of activities, the racing itself again offering championship titles in many classes including mini, junior, senior, women, vintage and veterans.

The weekend celebrations begin for guests on Friday with a short local bus tour, including a visit to the Thomson Motorcycle Museum at Kairanga.

On Saturday the guests, including riders who were competitors at Woodville in the 1960s and 70s, will go on an "old battlefields" bus tour of many old "scrambles" tracks around the Manawatu region, eventually arriving at the Woodville circuit where racing will already be under way for the mini, junior and vintage bike riders.

The weekend will be a two-wheeled festival for the Manawatu region with a freestyle motocross display planned for The Square, Palmerston North, on Saturday evening, featuring Manawatu's world-renowned Levi Sherwood.

Sunday is the main race day at Woodville and a record turnout of riders is expected, including current, former and perhaps future New Zealand, Australasian and even world champions.

Track action on Sunday will include races for seniors and veterans, as well as the fabled river race for the die-hard enduro exponents, likely to feature former world MX1 No2 Josh Coppins, of Motueka, national MX1 champion and defending Woodville champion Justin McDonald, of Christchurch, former New Zealand and Australian motocross champion Cody Cooper, of Mt Maunganui, and 2009 United States cross-country champion Paul Whibley, of Pahiatua, to name just a few among more than 700 entries.

"It's great to be able to race at Woodville again. It's one of the events that got me to where I'm at now," said Coppins. "It's also the event where I first turned senior all those years ago."

Overseas interest is again high for the event with leading riders from Australia, Britain and Belgium also entered.

The Woodville motocross has also attracted a bumper crop of talented "old timers" and their "parade of former stars" episode should cap off a memorable weekend for enthusiasts.