Fantastic 1-2 results for Yamaha Motocross Team
By TMX Archives on 11th Feb 08
The 25th edition of the Starcross International at Mantova in Italy kick-started the 2008 European motocross calendar last weekend and it was a positive meeting for the Yamaha Motocross Team as David Philippaerts took his first overall victory on the YZ450FM and Josh Coppins filled second position. The inaugural race of the year saw factory representation from all the manufacturers and a large quota of world championship riders line the gate.
Across the three 20 minute and 2 lap motos on the rough and hard-pack sandyItalian terrain, Philippaerts rode strongly and did not drop out of the topthree to post finishes of 2nd, 1st and 3rd. Coppins suffered from a spill inSaturday's qualification heat that left the New Zealander with a sore shoulder.The 30 year old slipped off again on a chaotic first lap of the opening sprintbut recovered to obtain a set of 7th, 4th and 4th positions.
Philippaerts was a convincing winner in Moto2 and should have perhaps won thefirst race also if he did not need to briefly slow while in second place to sortout a brake concern. In the final outing he was unable to chase JonathanBarragan but the Spaniard had mechanical trouble early in race two and wasphysically fresher than his peers.
The team were testing for two days this week prior to their first competitiveappearance of 2008 and will be clocking up kilometres again on the YZ450FM inthe days after Mantova. The new Kayaba suspension units have had a benefit, andthe improvement in the front end feeling of the chassis - helping the bike turnquicker - has been met with all-round approval from both riders.
Aside from the motos, that took place under bright sunshine but in modesttemperatures, spectators were also treated to the One-on-One' contest in whichselected riders from each class fought over one lap. Coppins was particularlysharp with his starts and won three face-offs (including a defeat of 2007 titlerival Steve Ramon) to reach the final against 2007 pole position specialistTanel Leok. Only a brave move from the Estonian through the triple on the secondpart of the lap prevented Coppins from walking away triumphant from thisparticular novelty, unique to the Starcross meeting.
In the MX2 category Martin Barr was Yamaha's top performer with a decent seventhplace overall. Manuel Monni was also in the top ten with ninth position.
Yamaha Motocross Team will be action again next week with the first round of theItalian championship taking place at the Montevarchi circuit. Yamaha Red Bull DeCarli rider Antonio Cairoli was present as a spectator in Mantova and will joinhis team-mates Matteo Bonini and Alessandro Lupino at Montevarchi as the Italiansquad open their account for 2008.
David Philippaerts, 1st position:
This is a good start to the yearand I am very happy for the team and everybody. The bike was really good today.It is very fast, maybe too fast for me at the moment! In the first race I had asmall problem with the brake and had to stop quickly but my riding was goodafter that and I had some nice lines. In the second I was determined to win andpassed many riders in the first corners. It was quite easy in the end. Barraganwas fast in the last race but because he had a problem earlier he might havebeen fresher than the rest of us. We still have some time before the first GrandPrix and we are going in the right direction; my condition is getting strongerand the bike feels better each week. I am especially pleased with my startstoday.
Josh Coppins, 2nd position:
I am happy it is all over as I don'treally like this track and I crashed on Saturday and hurt my shoulder. It was atough weekend. I got to the last round of the One on One' but Leok just got byme on the triple. In the first moto I went down on the first lap and did prettywell to come back to 7th from 15th or 20th; something like that. I fought hardand my shoulder was tight afterwards. The second race was going OK and I movedpast Pourcel for third at the end but unfortunately I got caught up with alapped rider and that pushed me back. In the last I felt the pace with myshoulder. Overall there were too many mistakes and having two crashes was notgood. However, we are on the podium so it was not a waste. We also rode the bikefor the first time this week and I am pleased with what we have so far.
Mino Raspanti, Team co-ordinator:
I am really happy for the riders.The results were not really important this weekend but it was still good to dowell and take the momentum we had from testing onto the race track. We had madesome changes to the bike but the practice track is always different to the raceswhere everything is much rougher and quicker. We have started our programme nowand can begin counting down to the first Grand Prix."