Tony Cooksley wins round 1 of the World Vet’s Championship

It was the 60th anniversary of the Belgian GP featuring the MX1 and MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship as well as Round 1 of the FIM Veterans' Motocross World Cup Class 40-50yrs Senior Class and +51 Veteran Class. Tony won the +51 Class. Having won Race 1 on the Saturday which was held at 6.30pm when it was cooling, Race 2 on Sunday was held at 2pm in temperatures of +35C. "The track had been heavily watered overnight but by 2pm it was as rough and gnarley as Namur gets" said Tony on the phone this morning. This time it was a more relaxed Tony who confidently took the holeshot. 24 minutes later he took the chequered flag time lead of 32 seconds from Jan Lemmens (NED - KTM) with Phillipe Dejong (BEL - Honda) only 2.6 seconds back in 3rd. Overall it was 1st Tony Cooksley (NZL - Yamaha) with a maximum 50 points, 2nd Paul Barbara (FRA - Kawasaki) on 40 and Philippe Dejong (BEL - Honda) on 38. 4th was Jan Lemmens (NED - KTM) on 36 and Harry Everts (BEL - KTM) on 34. "I am a happy man not only to win the first round won at Namur. It is a special place like DK (Darryll King) has always said. The bike was 100% having had the team from KYB make the front forks softer to suit Namur plus I had a KYB 'factory' shock on the back. That combined with Yamaha's 2 stroke power and Pirelli tyres it was a great day " said an excited Cooksley. "I wore the Thor AC gear in the race with the HH Media silver fern wings on the back which was nice and cool in the heat. At the media conference I wore the new Motorcycling New Zealand shirt. They actually asked how much influence Josh (Coppins) had but all Josh said to me was enjoy the day and have fun. We are now back at the hotel in Namur and have the bottle of champagne from the podium on the ice so will shortly toast a great weekend" he said. Tony has a 10 point advantage going into the second and final two race round is at Donington Park in England on 26 August and will remain in Europe for the three weeks. Main Photo: Cooksley #16 nails the holeshot.
Credit: Dick Koers from HH Media