Italian job for Coates in MXGP
By Sean Lawless on 30th Dec 14
Paul Coates, whos spent the last six years based in America, has signed a deal to race this years MXGP series with Italian team Rinaldi JK Racing Yamaha.
The 20-year-old, originally from Bishop Auckland in the North East, has been living the dream in the USA with a successful amateur career that saw him win at Loretta Lynn's and the Mini Os.
In 2014 he raced the East Coast 250SX series, qualifying for the Main Event in Indianapolis before crashing out at St Louis, fracturing his T7 vertebra.
Coming back for the AMA Nationals series, Paul established himself as a regular top 20 finisher on a 450F.
So why's he decided to shift his focus away from the States where he's been dividing his time between California, Florida and the Millsaps Training Facility in Georgia.
"The reason I'm doing GPs is pretty plain and simple,” says Paul.
"I got a better offer. There was a deal for me for supercross but it wasn't on the best machinery.
For full story see TMX issue 1952 (January 1, 2015)
