Double top!
By TMX Archives on 16th Sep 04
Swordy and Coppins claim Brit MX honours THEY CAME, they saw, they conquered - and they did it one round early! Stephen Sword and Josh Coppins were crowned Maxxis British MX champions after round seven of the eight-round series at Pontrilas. For Swordy the '04 MX2 title is his third in a row while Lizzard's MX1 win is his first British championship - although he can boast 14 Kiwi and one Italian crowns. So, when you've got two already, how important is a third domestic title? "It's just as important as the first two because I wanted to make it three on the trot," reckons Steve. "The competition was really good this year and to win it one round early was a bit unexpected - but it was one of my goals for this season and it's good to achieve goals. "My other goal was to finish top three in the world but I'm not there just yet." One bit of bad news for Swordy fans is that they may not get to see as much of their favourite rider in '05. "It's debatable at the moment whether I'll defend it next year," says the Scot who's already signed a two-year extension to his factory Kawasaki contract. "The team wants me to be based in Holland next year and concentrate on winning the world title and I can see where they're coming from. "I need to talk to Kawasaki about it but if I don't do the full series I'll definitely try to take in a few rounds." Josh is fairly laid back about it all. "It feels pretty good to be the British champion," says the CAS Honda star. "It's great for the team and all the sponsors and for me as well. "Gordon being injured and Coops being injured made it much more easier for me that I imagined it would've been if they'd been fit but I'm still pretty confident I would have won it anyway. "It's not confirmed that I'll be defending the title next year but it's more than likely and now I've ridden all the tracks and know how the series works I'm fairly sure I'll win it again."