another Franklin local doing well in Moto X

[Firefight]

From the Franklin County News, August 10, 2006

Title = Belgium success sets Tony up for the vets world title push...

Ramarama's Tony Cooksley raced at the FIM Veteran Motocross World Cup on August 5, 6, an event staged in conjunction with the MX1 and MX@ Belgian GP at Namur.

Two races were spilt between saturday and sunday in an enduro like setting where riders weave between trees in the grounds of an ancient castle on a steep outcrop overlooking the Belgian city.

Cooksley was well prepared with extensive training in the waikato and around Ak on a new bike.

Both heats in the senior championship(for riders between 40 and 50) were won by Belgian Thierry Godfroid.

Despite a spectacular crash when running in 5th place in the first moto , Cooksley managed to recover and ride his way back through the field. He finished 9th.

It was the same in the second moto with Godfroid again winning from Martens and Tonus.

In this race however the times were a little brisker with Godfroid setting a best time.

Though feeling the effects from his earlier crash Cooksley was again on the pace.

He moved up one place to finish 8th overall for the event. "I was really pleased with how I went"",says Cooksley. "There were a few GP former GP racers in front of me, guys a lot younger than me and I was fairly close behind 6th & 7th."

He is now eligible to move from seniors to the Veterans class next and considering his best lap time at Namur was four seconds quicker than Vet class winner Marc Van den Brink on the Friday, and a wopping 7 seconds quicker than him on the saturday, it seems he will be a strong contender for the Vetrans World Title in 2007.

Next year the World vets cup will be held in England.


Bloody gutsy effort Tony, well done mate.

For those of you who don't know Tony Rides Yamaha's.


F/F

[Danger]

Tony is a legend. When I was racing back in the 80's I had utmost respect for that "old guy" on the Yamaha's who was kicking everyones butts at the Pukekohe MX days. I thought gee he must be going to retire soon! Tony was 27 back then and he still kicks butt today.
Well done Tony.

[scott411]

i have been racing tony for about 11 years now, he was a vet when i was still riding 80's, he is still quick enough to run top 15 in NZ mx champs, it still pisses me off when he beats me, (and it happens often) he is one of the hardist men to pass as his lines are awesome, he may be lacking some outright speed now but he makes it up in consistantsy