Josh Coppins wins in Bulgaria to build on MX1 championship lead

New Zealander, Joshua Coppins, has won his fifth
Motocross GP of the 2007 season by dominating the MX1
class in Sevlievo, Bulgaria. The factory Yamaha Rinaldi
racer now boasts a massive 97 point lead with his
exceptional 2-1 performance bringing him one step closer
to his MX1 title aspirations.

Moto 1 action saw Coppins spin off the gate and miss out
on the all important hole-shot to Spaniard, Jonathan
Barragan. The Kiwi still managed to sneak up the inside
of the first turn and emerged third behind Italian, David
Philippaerts. An aggressive but clean pass before the
mechanics area saw Coppins take over second spot from
Philippaerts with the Italian losing the front end as he tried
to retaliate later in the lap. A hard charging Sebastien
Pourcel was never able to make a real impression on
Coppins and when the Frenchman made an error later in
the race, Coppins was able to relax and cruise home to
second behind a well deserved win by Jonathan Barragan.

A better start in Moto 2 would have Coppins and American,
Mike Brown dicing for the hole-shot. Brown came out tops
and left Coppins and new championship rival, Steve Ramon
scrapping for second and third. Coppins quickly made his
way past the Belgian and had to fend off a heated challenge
before he made his move on Brown two laps later. Coppins
checked out and then controlled his lead to bring home the
win, ten seconds ahead of Ramon, inevitably extending his
MX1 championship lead to just 3 points short of a century.

“I took me too long to get through to second in the first
moto and that gave Barragan space to run. I closed him
down a little but then had a bit of a moment on one of the
sections so I decided to take it easy and settle for second.
My start was better in the second moto and once I got past
Ramon and Brown I found a good rhythm and rode a strong
race. I want to keep this rolling and look forward to the next
GP in Sweden.” commented Coppins.

Coppins will take a weekend off before heading to Uddevalla
in Sweden in two weeks time for round 9 of the FIM Motocross
world championship.