Yamaha Impresses Despite Tough Day At the Office

Yamaha Impresses Despite Tough Day At the Office

NOVEMBER 18, 2013: It's always going to be a tough day when there's a huge target on your back.

And so it was that the high-profile Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team came under intense pressure at the annual Auckland Motocross Championships at Tuakau at the weekend, although they managed to deflect most of the broadsides and emerged relatively unscathed.

The official Yamaha team was in the cross-hairs for virtually every other rider at the Pukekohe Motorcycle Club's track and yet the Josh Coppins-managed team still came within centimetres of taking the outright class wins in all three of the main senior classes.

In the end, it didn't quite work out for the Altherm JCR Yamaha men and they were able to celebrate just one major success, Te Puke's Logan Blackburn taking his BikesportNZ.com-supported YZ125 to win the senior 125cc class, albeit by just one point from Rangiora's Dylan Walsh.

National MX2 (250cc) champion Scotty Columb (Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing YZ250) had been in prime position to wrap up the MX2 class at Auckland after finishing second and first in the opening two races of the day, but a first-turn tangle in the deciding third race wrecked his hopes of securing the crown.

He bravely battled through from last place to finish the day's final race in seventh spot, but, unfortunately he came up four points short of winning the class, forced to settle instead for third spot overall, behind fellow Yamaha YZ250 star Darryll King, of Hamilton, and Hamish Dobbyn, from Matakohe.

Dobbyn and King finished the day equal on points, but Dobbyn won the class on a count-back of results.

It was a similar story for the Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team's MX1 class rider, Waitakere's Ethan Martens, who had shared first and second place with Taupo's Brad Groombridge in the day's opening MX1 races and knew a win over Groombridge in the deciding third race was essential.

But, after an exciting see-saw battle, Groombridge held the advantage as the chequered flag came out and Martens had to settle for runner-up spot overall.
Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team boss Coppins, of Motueka, was philosophical about the frustrating day.

"From a team point of view, this was a tough day at the office," said the former world 250cc No.2.

"But, even so, we managed a first, a second and a third ... so that's not too bad after such a difficult day.

"No-one said it was going to be easy to win, but we won't let up and will be seeking more improvements all the time. Scotty was leading his class until the incident in the last MX2 race. The day would have worked out better but, equally, it could have been a whole lot worse."

The Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing team is supported by Yamaha Motor New Zealand, CRC, Fox, Holland’s Collision Centre, Star Moving, GYTR, Yamalube, Pro Circuit, Alpinestars, Matrix, DID, NGK, Renthal, Pirelli, Etnies, Workshop Graphics, POD, Atlas, Motomuck, Uni, Giltrap Prestige, Hinson and Racetech Plastics.

Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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