He may have been at less than full strength, but Mount Maunganui rider Cody Cooper was still a match for most of Australasia's motocross elite this season.

The Honda Racing Team rider's campaign to defend his New Zealand MX1 motocross title was fraught with difficulties as he coped with an injured hand.

He wasn't quite able to make it six national title wins in a row, but finishing overall runner-up to 2015 Australian MX1 champion Kirk Gibbs is a creditable result.

Cody was third overall in the championship standings at the start of Saturday's fourth and final round of the 2018 New Zealand Motocross Championships in Taupo, but, by late afternoon, when the engines were shut down, the Honda Racing Team star was standing on the top step of the podium and had boosted himself to second overall for the series.

Gold Coast rider Kirk Gibbs (KTM) started the day in Taupo six points clear of Mangakino's Kayne Lamont (Yamaha) and 18 points ahead of Cody. The Honda man was obviously in a tough spot, but still with aspirations of salvaging his season.

Cody was certainly ready to accept the challenge.

He took his immaculately-prepared Honda CRF450 to finish a close runner-up to Gibbs in the first of the day's three MX1 races. And Cooper was just warming up, as he came out guns blazing to dominate the next two races and win the day outright.

"I've been battling with my sore hand for a while, but did lots of practice with my starts and it paid off today," says Cody.

"When I arrived here, I knew the championship hadn't been decided yet and so I also knew there was always a possibility of winning, so I never gave up.

"I couldn't do a couple of the big jumps that the other boys were doing, because of the impact on my hand ... the flat-landers were killing me a bit. But I could work my way around them and it actually helped me in the rougher sections, where I could sort of bunny-hop the bike and float over some of the bumps," he explains.

"I was just being less aggressive on the throttle and it helped me in some areas. By slowing down I was actually going faster, if that makes sense. I was minimising the stress on my hand."

Kirk finished the day second overall at Taupo, his 1-3-3 score-card in the three MX1 races there enough for him to secure the title, while a succession of crashes at Taupo saw Kayne forced to accept third overall for the series.

Another Australian rider, Todd Waters (Honda), this season appearing as a guest rider for the Honda Racing Team in only the second half of the series, also finished on the day's podium in Taupo, third overall for the event, behind Cody and Kirk.

This was also enough for Todd to force his way into 11th overall for the series, despite contesting only half the series' races.

Cody is now readying himself for a full season of racing in the United States.

He leaves to contest the AMA Motocross Nationals on April 24, that 12-round series set to kick off in Sacramento, in California, on May 19.

"I can't wait for it," said Cody. "Obviously I'm going to have some time off the bike now, just to get my hand right again. I really wanted to do some long sessions on the bike, 30-minute motos, but I can't now. I think I'd rather be healed up though, than still be injured when I get to the US.

"Where everyone over there rides, in California, I think it's probably not possible for me to win. I can maybe hope for tenth placings. But on the east coast, those tracks suit me a bit better."

Cody finished fifth overall in the US in 2008 and ninth overall the following season and he believes, if everything clicks, he can achieve similar results again this year.

Meanwhile, West Auckland's Hamish Harwood wrapped up the New Zealand MX2 (250cc) crown on Saturday and Mangakino's Maximus Purvis won the National 125cc title for 2018.