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Yamaha factory rider, Josh Coppins, has raced to a superb overall victory at the first round of the FIM MX1 GP series in Valkenswaard, the Netherlands.
Coppins had a good gate jump in moto 1 and powered his way past Belgian, Ken de Dyker, moments after the start to take the lead in front of 25 000 spectators. De Dyker retaliated in the same lap with Coppins watching his every move from behind in second. With 6 laps gone “Lizzard” pressured the Belgian and took back the lead with De Dycker fading with every lap. Coppins posted fast and consistent lap times on the rough and technical sand circuit and took the checkered flag, over 15 seconds ahead of rival Steve Ramon, for his first GP win of the season.
The final decider would see team-mates Jonathan Barragan and David Philippaerts lead the start of second 40 min + 2 lap race with Coppins pursuing in third. The Kiwi made his way past Italian, Philippaerts, however he lost too much ground on Barragan who succeeded in opening up a comfortable gap. Coppins tried to close the deficit with a few minutes left on the clock but had to settle for a strong second and his first overall win in the 15 round series.
“This is a great start to the season. I didn’t expect to be this fast in the sand but we have been putting in some hard work on the practice tracks and in the pre-season races and that has paid off here. I took my time in the first moto to get past Ken as I knew he would not be able to run a fast pace for the entire race. Once I was out front I controlled the race and won with quite a big gap. The second moto wasn’t as easy and I tried to move in on Jonathan but he was riding really well so he deserved the win in the second moto. I am happy for the Rinaldi Yamaha team - we achieved more than our goal today,” explained an elated Coppins.
The second round of the MX1 GP series will move South to sunny Spain where the hard pack circuit of Bellpuig will see Coppins start with a 6 point lead
