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Josh Coppins more than 100 points clear in MX1 championship

Monday 16 July 2007, 9:37AM

By joshcoppins.com

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Winning form
Winning form Credit: joshcoppins.com
On top
On top Credit: joshcoppins.com
Factory Yamaha Rinaldi racer, Josh Coppins, has posted a solid 2-2 result at the Italian MX GP in Faenza to extend his MX1 championship lead to 107 points. The Kiwi rode two smart races under scorching conditions, on a fast technical circuit only 2 hours from the team’s base in Parma.

Locking elbows as the gate dropped for the first moto, Coppins lost his advantage of a good start and was in for a tough race. He was well out of the top ten on lap one as he tried to be patient and pick his passing lines. Championship rival, Steve Ramon, had an equally bad start and was losing ground as Coppins put his head down and started his attack on the very fast and technical Faenza circuit. By the halfway mark he had clawed his way back to 6th spot but it was the closing minutes of the 35 minute + 2 lap moto that were the most impressive. While the riders in front were tiring under the scorching heat, Coppins strung together his most effective laps of the race to rocket into second spot. Frenchman, Sebastien Pourcel, took his first career moto win with Coppins right behind, gaining valuable championship points over Ramon.

Certain not to make the same mistake as in the first moto, Coppins made sure of his jump and was just ousted out of the hole-shot by Italian, David Philippaerts. With Sebastien Pourcel sneaking by ‘Lizzard’ settled in third before planning his attack on Philippaerts. Ten minutes into the moto he made his move and kept Philippaerts at bay before pulling a comfortable gap to settle in second. Pourcel deservedly won the second moto with Coppins a few seconds adrift.

“I always come to every race trying to win. If I can’t do that then I need to make sure that I’m on the podium and that’s what I did today. I didn’t focus at the start of the first moto and changed a few things which I shouldn’t have – I tried something a little bit different but it didn’t work and that made it a really hard race for me. I had to push quite hard in the first moto and that cost quite a lot of energy but I thought rather give it 100% and have two solid races.” smiled a content Coppins.

The GP teams and riders will have a week’s break before heading to Loket in the Czech Rep for round 11 of 15.

www.joshcoppins.com

Race results:

MX1 Race 1

1 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki

2 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha

3 de Dycker, Ken BEL Honda

4 Brown, Mike USA Honda

5 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM

6 Philippaerts, David ITA KTM

7 Bill, Julien SUI Honda

8 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki

9 Mackenzie, Billy GBR Kawasaki

10 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki

11 Noble, James GBR Honda

12 Leok, Tanel EST Kawasaki

13 Priem, Manuel BEL TM

14 Salvini, Alex ITA Yamaha

15 Beggi, Cristian ITA WRM



MX1 Race 2

1 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki

2 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha

3 Mackenzie, Billy GBR Kawasaki

4 Brown, Mike USA Honda

5 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM

6 Bill, Julien SUI Honda

7 Leok, Tanel EST Kawasaki

8 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki

9 van Daele, Marvin BEL Honda

10 de Dycker, Ken BEL Honda

11 Noble, James GBR Honda

12 Nemeth, Kornel HUN Suzuki

13 Priem, Manuel BEL TM

14 Salvini, Alex ITA Yamaha

15 Philippaerts, David ITA KTM



MX1 World championship standings:

1 Coppins, J. NZL 445

2 Ramon, Steve BEL 338

3 Pourcel, S. FRA 285

4 Philippaerts, D. ITA 278

5 Barragan, J. ESP 272

6 de Dycker, Ken BEL 256

7 Brown, Mike USA 255

8 Strijbos, K. BEL 250

9 Leok, Tanel EST 240

10 Mackenzie, B. GBR 218

11 Noble, James GBR 195

12 Priem, Manuel BEL 155

13 Nemeth, Kornel HUN 152

14 de Reuver, M. NED 136

15 Nagl, M. GER 107