Coppins Phils his boots
By TMX Archives on 2nd Mar 07
JOSH Coppins confirmed his role as world title favourite with a last moto tie-break victory over David Philipppaerts at a muddy Valence on Sunday, but Max Nagl again put the cat amongst the pigeons with a runaway first moto victory.
Billy MacKenzie opened the day with an equally clearcut second to the German, but got tangled up with rivals and the track later in the day.
Fellow British brown greenies Tom Church, Shaun Simpson and Gareth Swanepoel were always in the thick of the MX2 action in the pack to each finish top six in class against strong local opposition as Tyla Rattray swept the class in all three motos.
A long uphill powerhouse start, particularly after the overnight rain, did not deter Nagl in the opener as he scythed across the pack from an outside gate in race one and waved goodbye to the opposition, just as he had done at Mantova two weeks earlier.
The 19-year-old German won by 22 seconds, and was almost a minute clear of third-placed Coppins!
An equally emphatic second was MacKenzie: ''I wasn't even racing. I was on my own after a couple of laps and it was more like an enduro, riding round with my feet on the pegs.''
Conditions were horrible for the opener, and the all-star trio of Coppins, Philippaerts and Kevin Strijbos needed more than half the race to get past Bas Verhoeven, the Dutch newcomer to the MTM squad using his sand experience effectively in the quagmire and hanging on to fifth, still ahead of Strijbos, to the chequered flag.
Marc De Reuver was less happy with a long ride through the pack to eighth behind Nicolas Aubin. The diminutive French teenager was credited with the MX2 win, but he had switched to a 450 overnight, so Rattray was best 250F runner in 11th, three ahead of Boissiere.
INTERNATIONAL MOTOCROSS Valence, FRANCE
1 Joshua Coppins (NZ - Rinaldi Yamaha) 20 + 20 + 25 = 65
2 David Philippaerts (I - Red Bull KTM) 18 + 25 + 22 = 65
3 Max Nagl (D - Sarholz KTM) 25 + 16 + 18 = 59
4 Kevin Strijbos (B - Geboers Suzuki) 15 + 22 + 20 = 57
5 Tyla Rattray (ZA - Red Bull KTM (MX2) 10 + 15 + 16 = 41
6 Billy MACKENZIE (GB - DeGroot Kaw) 22 + 0 +11 = 33
7 Sebastien Pourcel (F - GPKR Kaw) 11 + 7 + 13 = 31
8 Julien Bill (CH - Delta Kawasaki) 0 + 14 + 15 = 29
9 Nicolas Aubin (F - Ricci Yamaha) 14 + 0 + 14 = 28
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, March 2, 2007.