Tough Turkish MX GP for Josh Coppins

A historical first visit of the FIM Motocross championship to Turkey has seen Josh Coppins battle with the newly built Hezarfen race circuit in Istanbul. The Yamaha Monster Energy racer struggled to find form all weekend but did his best to remain in the MX1 title hunt.

A slow jump at the start gate of the first moto left Coppins having to take some risks in the first few turns. It paid off for the Kiwi as he emerged in 7th however a string of inconsistent laps relegated ‘The Lizzard’ outside of the top ten. Coppins finally settled and moved his way back up the standings to 8th but could not salvage any positions by the end of the race.

Knowing how important a good start would be in a stacked field, Coppins once again made the most of the first few corners in what seemed to be a carbon copy of race 1. The New Zealander made it as far as 5th before losing his rhythm and having to settle for 8th position again.

“It’s been one of the those days where you just have to concede, do the best you can and look forward to the next few races and get back into the title hunt. I didn’t gel with the track at all and with such a strong field of riders, 8th was the best I had in me. I battled to find the speed all weekend and although I could put in a hot lap it was difficult to string them together for the entire race. I’m looking forward to Valkenswaard as it will be a change of surface and it’s somewhat of a home GP for me being close to my home base in Belgium” commented a disappointed Coppins.

The ‘Eurocircuit’ will see a drastic change in underground as round four of the fifteen round series will take place on the 25-26th of April in the Valkenswaard sand, close to Eindhoven.

www.joshcoppins.com

Results:

MX1 Race1
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
2 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
3 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Honda
4 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
5 de Dycker, Ken BEL Suzuki
6 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
7 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM
8 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha
9 Desalle, Clement BEL Honda
10 Vuillemin, David FRA Kawasaki
11 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki
12 Mackenzie, Billy GBR Honda
13 Priem, Manuel BEL Aprilia
14 de Reuver, Marc NED Honda
15 Bill, Julien SUI Aprilia


MX1 Race 2
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
2 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
3 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
4 de Dycker, Ken BEL Suzuki
5 Leok, Tanel EST Yamaha
6 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM
7 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Honda
8 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha
9 Desalle, Clement BEL Honda
10 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki
11 Aranda, Gregory FRA Kawasaki
12 Noble, James GBR Suzuki
13 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
14 Vuillemin, David FRA Kawasaki
15 Bill, Julien SUI Aprilia
16 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki

MX1 GP Overall:
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
2 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
3 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha

MX1 World championship standings:
1 Cairoli, A. ITA 98
2 de Dycker, Ken BEL 94
3 Philippaerts, D. ITA 88
4 Coppins, J. NZL 85
5 Barragan, J. ESP 83
6 Ramon, Steve BEL 78
7 Leok, Tanel EST 73
8 Nagl, M. GER 73
9 Desalle, C. BEL 61
10 Strijbos, K. BEL 50
11 Vuillemin, D. FRA 40
12 Swanepoel, G. RSA 34
13 Leok, Aigar EST 32
14 Noble, James GBR 27
15 Pourcel, S. FRA 26