Altherm JCR Yamaha team dominates at Summercross
Altherm JCR Yamaha Media Statement 30.12.22
Feature Image : The Summercross MX2 podium featured Altherm JCR Yamaha riders Brodie Connolly on top and James Scott in second place.
As the saying goes, ‘the show must go on’ and in a testament to the Altherm JCR Yamaha team, its riders still managed to dominate at the annual Whakatane Summercross, despite manager Josh Coppins being unable to attend.
Coppins tested positive for Covid on Christmas Eve, scuppering all of his plans to attend the 50th anniversary of the two-day Summercross event held yesterday and Wednesday. Fortunately, he had a great back-up plan in place, with good friend and Yamaha ambassador Ben Townley able to take over managerial duties and his wife Amy handling the corporate hospitality.
“It was a very successful race meeting for the Yamaha brand. We must have won nearly every class with impressive results across the board,” Coppins says.
“Full credit goes to the riders and their families and also Ben Townley, who looks after the development junior programme. Also a big thanks to the team and the mechanics Tamas, Nabe, Joe and Luke for stepping up without me being there. Everything ran really smoothly.”
Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis demonstrated his class by winning the top-tier MX1 category. He didn’t have it all his way however, and describes how his 2-2-1-1 results panned out.
“The first two sprint races didn’t go quite to plan as I got bad starts and got second in both. In the third race I got a good start and won it. I got an average start in the last race and was chasing Cody Cooper until near the end when he had a crash, so I won that one too,” Purvis says.
Coppins was pleased with Purvis’ performance, especially as he hasn’t reached his peak fitness yet.
“He’s been working a lot lately and is just starting to get stuck into his training, so we are expecting him to make some big gains. However, he’s already in a good place, which we can see by him taking out the overall win.”
Maximus Purvis (#44) claimed victory for the Altherm JCR Yamaha team in the MX1 class on his YZ450
MX2 rider Brodie Connolly, of Tauranga, finished up his time with the Altherm JCR Yamaha team in fine style.
Coppins sums it up succinctly as: “He rode exceptional.”
“This was our last event with Brodie and it was so good to see him back to his full form. He absolutely dominated yesterday. We want to thank him for his time at Altherm JCR, which although it was relatively short due to the last Covid-affected season, he made some huge improvements. A special thanks also goes to Ben, as he did a lot of work with Brodie and I feel like he’s in a really good place heading into his next chapter racing in Australia.”
“We may get to work with Brodie again in the future. Hopefully he achieves his aspirations overseas and we are grateful to have been a small part of trying to get him there,” Coppins says.
Connolly signs out, saying: “It was an awesome day at Summercross for me, with four from four wins. This was my last race for Altherm JCR and I can’t thank all the incredible people here enough. It's been such an awesome time and I’ve learnt so much off Ben and Josh.”
Townley says Connolly was the team’s “standout performance.”
“It was really satisfying to watch how he rode and performed to his potential. It’s bittersweet to see him go but to send him off to continue with an international career is a pretty cool opportunity for him. We’ll help mentor James [Scott] through now and continue that success on the YZ250F.”
Altherm JCR Yamaha’s Cole Davies (#17) won the JMX 250F - 14-16 years class.
Oparau’s James Scott has been signed by the Altherm JCR Yamaha team as its MX2 rider.
“It was his first major race with us and he rode well to finish second. He’s probably slightly disappointed but he just needs to follow the process and the form will come back to him pretty quickly and I’m sure he’ll be on top of the podium soon,” Coppins predicts.
For Scott it was a case of consistent runner-up results.
“I was second all day and Brodie was just a bit better than me right from the start. I qualified second, then in the first race I stalled the bike on the start, then worked my way up and managed to pass into second on the last lap. I was riding pretty tight and tense which tired me out a bit for the second moto because I had to work so hard to get up to the front,” he says.
“In the second moto, I got holeshot and led one lap but Brodie passed me and we finished 1-2. The next two races I was second again,” Scott says.
He found the Bay of Plenty Motorcycle Club’s track “super rough and really demanding” which was perfect training for him after having not competed in many motocross events recently. Scott has instead been focusing on enduro and cross country motorcycle racing.
He says he felt instantly at home with the Altherm JCR Yamaha team.
“I’m really happy to be with the team. Definitely the most comfortable I’ve felt with a group of people in motocross and I’m excited for the season ahead with them.”
Cole Davies, who hails from Waitoki, had the tough job of doing double class duties in the hot weather. On Wednesday, he won the JMX 125cc - 15-16 years class and finished runner-up in the JMX 250F - 14-16 class. Then yesterday he went on to win the MX Youth class.
“The first day went ok but it was hard work double classing and I got tired towards the end of the day. The second day was a better day just focusing on one class and I felt like I rode a lot better,” Davies says.
Coppins was very happy with Davies’ riding and indeed with all the Yamaha results across the senior and junior classes.
Tauranga’s Brodie Connolly (#88) dominated in his last race meeting for the Altherm JCR Yamaha team before he heads overseas.
Townley’s sons both had top results with Levi winning the JMX 125cc - 12-14 years and JMX 85cc 12-16 years 85cc & 150F classes and Jaggar claiming victory the JMX Pro 65 8-11 years class.
In fact, Yamahas were on the podium in every junior class and the Townley’s’ and Davies won five out of the seven.
Amie Roberts won the womens’ class on a Yamaha YZ250F and there were Yamaha motocross bike riders on the podium in MX3 and the Vet 35-44 years class and Darren Capill won the Vet 45 years-plus categories.
Townley says it was great to have Mitch Plaw from Altherm Window Systems attending the event and seeing the team performing to the highest standard.
“He’s been a massive supporter of the JCR team - almost since its inception - and we’re glad he could witness it in action at such a successful event.”
Coppins wraps up: “We are in a good place heading into the Woodville GP at the end of January and everyone deserves a bit of a break now as we’ve been working really hard as a team.”
RESULTS:
MX1
1st Maximus Purvis (YZ450) – 192
2nd Tyler Steiner – 170
3rd Micah McGoldrick
MX2
1st Brodie Connolly (YZ250F) – 200
2nd James Scott (YZ250F) – 184
3rd Cobie Bourke – 172
MX Youth
1st Cole Davies (YZ250F) – 150
2nd Jack Coleman – 135
3rd Seth Thompson – 125
Senior Women’s
1st Amie Roberts (YZ250F) – 150
2nd Roma Edwards – 135
3rd Meg Paton (YZ250F) – 126
MX3
1st Adam Hodge – 142
2nd Daniel White – 133
3rd Callum Paterson (YZ250F) – 131
VMX 35-44 years
1st Jarrah Seath – 146
2nd Mike McDonald (YZ250F) – 142
3rd Jonny Edwards – 129
VMX 45 years +
1st Darren Capill (YZ450) – 150
2nd Neil Thompson – 129
3rd Craig Spence (YZ450) – 127
4th Tony Cooksley (YZ250) – 125
PHOTOS CREDITED TO : PHIL SMITH CLMINTIEPIX
2023 ALTHERM JCR YAMAHA CONTRACTED EVENTS CALENDAR
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Date: |
Event: |
Location: |
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7th & 8th January 2023 |
NZSBK Nationals – Round Three (Road) |
Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Ruapuna |
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14th & 15th January 2023 |
NZSBK Nationals – Round Four (Road) |
Teretonga Park Raceway, Invercargill |
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28th & 29th January 2023 |
Woodville Grand Prix (MX) |
Woodville, Palmerston North |
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8th to 11th February 2023 |
Yamaha Adventure Ride with 101 Adventures |
Whanganui to Raglan |
|
12th February 2023 |
NZMX Nationals – Round One (MX) |
Balclutha, Otago |
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26th February 2023 |
NZMX Nationals – Round Two (MX) |
Rotorua, Waikato |
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4th & 5th March 2023 |
NZSBK Nationals – Round Five (Road) |
Hampton Downs, Waikato |
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11th & 12th March 2023 |
NZSBK Nationals – Round Six (Road) |
Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupo |
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19th March 2023 |
NZMX Nationals – Round Three (MX) |
Havelock North, Hawkes Bay |
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26th March 2023 |
NZMX Nationals – Round Four (MX) |
Taupo, Bay of Plenty |
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21st to 23rd April 2023 |
bLUcRU Kids Camp |
Toi Road, Hauturu, Waikato 3886 |
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31st March to 2nd April 2023 |
bLUcRU Kids Camp |
Southern Fieldays Venue, Waimumu, Southland |
ALTHERM JCR YAMAHA WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS:
Altherm Window Systems, Josh Coppins Racing, Yamaha Motor New Zealand, Yamalube, GYTR, bLU cRU, YMF, YMI, Akrapovic, Holland Collision Centre, Ward Demolition, KT Trailers, Fox, Workshop Graphics, Pirelli, DID, Renthal, Motomuck, Vertex, Twin Air, Motoseat & Zeta.