It was over before it had even begun for Team New Zealand.
When Daryl Hurley and Ben Townley nose-dived into the hard
Maryland dirt during practice, so did the hopes and dreams of
Team NZ.
Hurley and Townley both crashed during early practice on
Saturday, day one of the 61st annual Motocross of Nations at
the Budd's Creek circuit, just south of Washington DC.
Townley injured his shoulder and Hurley was concussed, they
took no further part in the racing and New Zealand was ruled
out of the event.
That meant the sole remaining team member, Papamoa's Cody
Cooper was the only rider to ride the actual qualifying outings.
Cooper finished 11th in his MX1 class race, within the top-19
cut-off for qualifying for Sunday's action.
However, with a minimum two scores needed to qualify and
Townley and Hurley not even getting to the start line, New
Zealand finished 31st and and last of the nations entered.
"Obviously I'm disappointed for the team," Cooper said.
"At least the injuries to Ben and Daryl are not too serious.
These are just those sort of things that happen in racing."
fullnoise.com.au - photo from vitalmx.com