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Coppins strikes back to win Italian GP
New Zealand’s MX1 star, Josh Coppins, has bounced back to win both moto’s of the Italian GP in Mantova. The Factory Yamaha Rinaldi rider used good starts and smart riding to extend his lead in the FIM MX1 world championship series.
With arguably one of the most exciting MX1 opening laps in history, the sellout Italian crowd were on their feet. Coppins lost some positions while the dog fight ensued up front and smartly kept out of trouble. Crowd favourite, David Philippaerts and Marc de Reuver, tangled in the fight and went down, allowing Coppins to make a move on Belgians Strijbos and De Dyker to take the lead. De Dycker retaliated but Coppins quickly stamped his authority on the race and took control to the checkered flag.
Track conditions were considerably tougher in the second moto but Coppins was placed well at the start and took his time in getting past, fast starter, Mike Brown. “Lizzard” seemed to be settling into a good rhythm when a challenge from Ken De Dycker caught him off guard. Using his head, the Kiwi regrouped and re-passed the Belgian with five minutes left on the clock to cruise to a double victory, his second of the season.
“It’s no secret that I don’t like this track and it was pretty obvious yesterday. I worked really hard with the team. The Yamaha Rinaldi guys were very smart in making some decisions for me. We really improved the bike over the two days. I knew my race pace was good – I just couldn’t go that little bit extra to put the whole lap together so I had to be a little bit smart and fight to the end. The first moto was crazy – a lot of guys were trying to win the race in the first ten minutes but I just let them do their own thing. This is probably my best win ever. I kept a cool head and played it smart and did better than ever expected.” commented Coppins.
Coppins heads round 5 in Teutschenthal, Germany next weekend, with a 36 point advantage over championship rival Kevin Strijbos.
Race results:
