Coppins resumes ‘normal service’ at Polesworth

Defending Champion Josh Coppins returned to torment his rivals in the MX1 Maxxis British Motocross Championship by winning both races at Polesworth for the second round of the series today.

The CAS Honda rider completed a first successful outing of the season after missing the opening event two weeks ago because of a dislocated shoulder. A moderate crowd braved low temperatures, light drizzle and grey skies in what was already a late venue change for the second test of eight in the 2005 competition.

The Maxxis-backed contest is recognised as one of the best national motocross Championships in Europe and proved its billing again today with some first class racing by a host of riders expected to challenge for top places at Zolder in Belgium next weekend for the Grand Prix of Flanders; the first race of the FIM World Championships.

Although the highest step of the podium for MX1 was rarely beyond doubt with Coppins hole-shotting and dominating both 30 minute and 2 lap ‘motos’, the tussle for podium positions was interesting. Coppins’ Finnish Honda team-mate Jussi Vehvilainen pushed the reigning Champ to the flag in the first sprint and engaged in a similarly close encounter in the next race for runner-up position with Yamaha’s Gordon Crockard, narrowly beating the Irishman after slipping past on the last lap. Crockard was content to register his first top three appearance of the year after a crash earlier in the day had produced his second DNF in two meetings.

Winner at Canada Heights for the 2005 season curtain-raiser Paul Cooper scored third and fifth places finishes this afternoon to ensure that the veteran still leads the MX1 Championship by 2 points over Vehvilainen. Thanks to his fresh 60 point haul Coppins now sits 6th in the standings. James Noble consolidated third spot (just ten points behind Cooper) after two solid rides to fourth position.

The Polesworth circuit, located near Tamworth, substituted at late notice for the Pontrilas venue that was ruled out by poor weather in Herefordshire. The midlands track became a rough and challenging prospect for the riders as the proceedings wore on.

It was an eventful day’s racing in the MX2 class. The mix of 250cc four-stroke and 125cc two-stroke motorcycles divulged two winners in the forms of factory KTM rider Carl Nunn (enjoying a confident debut performance on the Austrian firm’s 250F, the machine that won the 2004 MX2 World Championship) and Yamaha’s Billy Mackenzie, who erased painful recollections of Polesworth as the track where he lost the 125cc Championship on the last lap of the final race of the series two years ago. As ever with the youthful MX2 category the action was hot and Nunn was shadowed closely by Tom Church in the first moto with Erik Eggens taking third in front of Mackenzie. Canada Heights winner Mike Brown suffered a crash and broken throttle and was forced to pull out for the second consecutive moto.

It was not to be the former American Champion’s afternoon as he stalled his 250F Honda in the start gate for the second moto, although provided one of the main focuses of the race as he charged back from dead-last to eventually claim 6^th by the chequered flag.

Nunn, flying into an early lead, made a mistake on the whoops section that cut his nine second margin over Mackenzie and Church down to zero. Mackenzie seized the bait and in an aggressive move, that actually put Nunn briefly on the ground, gained control of the moto to win. Church was far enough ahead of the KTM rider to score his second runner-up placing of the afternoon. Eggens had seen any chance of a second podium disappear when he fell on the same corner as Nunn several laps previously.

The second moto had to be re-started after Luke Mellows fell ten minutes into the duration and needed medical attention on the track.

Nunn, scooping the overall triumph by one point from Church, now holds a 9 point advantage over his Kawasaki rival in the early title pursuit.

The next round of the Maxxis British Championships follows hard upon with Lyng (Norfolk) hosting the third stop in two weeks time.

Photographs available for media use can be downloaded from the website: www.mxbg.info from Sunday evening.

Josh Coppins, MX1 1^st and 1^st:

“Today went pretty good for me. I had two good starts and to go 1-2 overall is a great result for the team. I still need more time on the bike because of my shoulder. This is only my second race of the year and all things considered I am happy with my speed and condition.”

Jussi Vehvilainen, MX1 2^nd and 2^nd:

“It was a hard race today. Josh was fast and Gordon also had some good pace. It was difficult to pass on this track but I squeezed past Gordon at the end and it was enough. I am feeling good at the moment and of course this was a decent result for the team today.”

Carl Nunn, MX2 1^st and 3^rd:

“After leading and getting passed at Canada Heights there was no way the same thing was going to happen today. I had some arm pump in that first race but I was determine not to lose the lead. I could not relax out there because Tom was pushing me hard. In the second race I made a silly mistake on the whoops and that gave the other two a second wind. It was also hard for me to immediately get going. Billy and I clashed together and I went down. I am not happy about it but sometimes these things happen in racing. Overall the day was great. I am really happy with the bike and the team have done so much for me.”

Tom Church, MX2 2^nd and 2^nd:

“Things are going well this year. I wanted to get my speed and confidence back and I’m pleased with how it is working out. I love this track and have had some good results before. In the second moto I ran out of steam slightly but I have been suffering with flu this week. The plan is coming along; I was looking for top five in Canada Heights, top three here and the win at round three.”

Billy Mackenzie, MX2 4^th and 1^st:

“I am feeling confident with my riding. I have been practicing a lot and the bike is great, the suspension is working really well. I have some bad memories of Polesworth but I always like to be positive so I am glad to win. I know I can run with the rest of these guys and I proved it today.”

Catch the action from Polesworth on TV at the following times and channels (information correct at time of publication but please consult TV guide for last minute changes).

Friday 15th April - 8.00pm - Sky Sports 3
Saturday 16th April - 2.00am - Sky Sports Xtra
Sunday 17th April - 7.00am - Sky Sports 3
Sunday 17th April - 5.00pm - Sky Sports Xtra
Monday 18th April - 10.00pm - Sky Sports Xtra

MX1 Moto1:

Pos  Name                         Diff           Points

1      Josh Coppins               -                30

2      Jussi Vehvilainen          +2.477       27

3      Paul Cooper                 +26.229     25

4      James Noble                +34.924     23

5      Yoshitaka Atsuta          +49.262     21

6      Neville Bradshaw          +1:06.944  19

7      Mark Jones                  +1:22.242  17

8      Alex Rach                    +1:37.392  15

9      Mark Hucklebridge        +1:51.422  13

10    Jody Smyth                 +1:52.526  11

11    David Campbell            +1:55.276  10

12    Bryan MacKenzie         1 Lap         9

13    Christian Burnham        +1.778       8

14    Ben Taylor                   +5.293       7

15    Martin Barr                   +6.875       6

16    Jason Higgs                 +14.355     5

17    David Williams             +29.447     4

18    Toomas Triisa              +42.700     3

19    Ben Lambert-Williams   +51.908     2

20    Jeff Perrett                   +56.016     1

MX1 Moto2:

Pos  Name                         Diff           Points

1      Josh Coppins               -               30

2      Jussi Vehvilainen          +2.627      27

3      Gordon Crockard          +4.689      25

4      James Noble                +8.987      23

5      Paul Cooper                 +12.940     21

6      Mark Jones                  +50.380     19

7      Neville Bradshaw          +1:01.844  17

8      Glen Phillips                +1:06.926  15

9      Jordan Rose                 +1:08.679  13

10    Yoshitaka Atsuta          +1:09.379  11

11    Alex Rach                    +1:40.080  10

12    Stuart Flockhart           +1:56.014  9

13    Jody Smyth                 +2:05.282  8

14    Ben Taylor                   +2:24.412  7

15    Bryan MacKenzie         1 Lap        6

16    David Williams             +25.638     5

17    Toomas Triisa              +28.058     4

18    David Campbell            +29.910     3

19    Ben Lambert-Williams   +41.647     2

20    Martin Barr                   +54.436     1

MX1 Championship points:

1        Paul Cooper                                            106

2        Jussi Vehvilainen                                     104

3        James Noble                                           96

4        Yoshitaka Atsuta                                     82

5        Neville Bradshaw                                     78

6        Josh Coppins                                          60

7        Mark Jones                                             49

8        Mark Hucklebridge                                   47

9        Glen Phillips                                           45

10      Gordon Crockard                                     40

MX2 Moto1:

Pos    Name                      Diff               Points

1        Carl Nunn                 -                   30

2        Tom Church              +1.429          27

3        Eric Eggens             +22.233        25

4        Billy MacKenzie        +42.401        23

5        Wayne Smith           +45.923        21

6        Tommy Searle          +1:12.847      19

7        Brad Anderson          +1:17.304      17

8        David Willett             +1:20.303      15

9        Ben Saunders           +1:23.951      13

10      Shaun Simpson        +1:27.637      11

11      Jim Murro                 +1:45.275      10

12      Lewis Gregory          +1:49.772      9

13      Marcus Norlen          +1:55.030      8

14      Jamie Lewis             1 Lap            7

15      Alex Butler               +0.735          6

16      John May                 +3.911          5

17      Phil Mercer               +13.106        4

18      Sean Frayne             +14.845        3

19      Craig Cook               +17.716        2

20      Ray Rowson             +21.050        1

MX2 Moto2:

Pos  Name                    Diff            Points

1      Billy MacKenzie      -                30

2      Tom Church            +9.309       27

3      Carl Nunn               +14.300      25

4      Wayne Smith          +32.641      23

5      Brad Anderson        +37.361      21

6      Mike Brown            +38.969      19

7      Tommy Searle        +1:05.798   17

8      Jason Dougan         +1:11.407   15

9      Eric Eggens            +1:17.158   13

10     Marcus Norlen        +1:21.759   11

11     Jim Murro               +1:27.828   10

12     Shaun Simpson      +1:28.454   9

13     Jamie Lewis            +1:48.148   8

14     Graeme Gowland    +1:50.956   7

15     Ben Saunders         +1:57.666   6

16     Richard Lawson      +2:01.017   5

17     John May               +2:03.129   4

18     Jamie Smith           +2:16.322   3

19     Alex Butler             1 Lap         2

20     David Willett           +1.661       1

MX2 Championship points:

1          Carl Nunn                         109

2          Tom Church                      100

3          Wayne Smith                   88

4          Billy MacKenzie                80

5          Eric Eggens                     80

6          Brad Anderson                  74

7          Tommy Searle                  62

8          Stephen Sword                 55

9          Mike Brown                      49

10        Lewis Gregory                  37