Sensational double in Italy

By TMX Archives on 6th May 07

Motocross

Yamaha's emphatic presence in the MX1 and MX2 World Championship continues as Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins won his third Grand Prix of the year and Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli maintained a 100% record with his fourth consecutive success at a sunny and warm Mantova circuit for the Italian round and the fourth meeting of fifteen in the FIM competition.

The Mantova layout had been altered slightly from the course that opened theoff-road racing calendar in February. The track, with its rough, sandy terrainand many jumps, won praise from most of the riders for the challenge it offered.The facility is unique in the way it is compacted in a squared 'stadium'setting, allowing wide views of most of the circuit.
The first MX1 moto wasa collection of incidents. Marc De Reuver started brightly and held fourthposition behind Coppins in the early stages. On a surge of confidence theDutchman took off to challenge David Philippaerts for the lead but the paircollided in a tight left-hander and both went down. Ken de Dycker moved throughto head a four rider group but Coppins attacked right away and the duo swappedpositions for several laps until De Dycker faded. For the last third of the raceCoppins was not overtaken, although Tanel Leok kept him close company; the 30year old rode comfortably to his fifth triumph from seven motos. De Reuverre-started outside of the top ten and eventually took the chequered flag in ahumble twenty-third and out of the points.

Coppins again faced the threat of De Dycker in the second sprint. The formerteam-mates tangled before the New Zealander backed off to observe his rival.After four laps he was able to regain ground on the Belgian and swiftlyrelegated the 22 year old to second spot. The Rinaldi squad were naturallythrilled with victory at their home Grand Prix and Coppins cited the triumph asthe best of his career after battling some set-up problems on Saturday. Furthergood news lay in store when De Reuver (sporting a close-cut hairstyle instead ofhis traditional lengthy locks) crossed the line in third spot for his second topthree MX1 moto finish with Yamaha.
Tanel Leok in second place and SebastienPourcel in third both made their first appearances on the podium, Coppins wasable to extend his lead in the MX1 series by 17 points over Kevin Strijbos (whowas fourth overall) and now enjoys a 36 point advantage. De Reuver's effortsleave him tenth.

Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team:
"I'm pretty happy. It is nosecret that I don't like this track and it looked obvious yesterday but weworked hard with the team, and Yamaha were really smart and made some gooddecisions for me. We really improved the bike over the two days. I knew my racepace was good but I could not go that little bit extra for a flying lap. Today Ihad to be a little bit clever and head-strong and fight to the end. The firstmoto was crazy because a lot of guys were trying to win the race in the firstten minutes. I let them do their own thing. I almost got caught up with Marcwhen he fell and that was a near miss. I started to ride better after that andgave my best. I had a pretty good idea that I could pass Ken again in the secondmoto. He had a couple of better lines so I let him go but I wondered how muchenergy he had left and when he started to slow I was confident I could leadagain. I think this is the best win ever for me simply because I have never donewell at this track and today went much better than I expected."

Marcde Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team:
"I felt really good from the firstpractice and I really thought this was going to be my weekend. I got the firstcorners right in the first moto and moved into fifth. I found it really easy toovertake from there and got up to second place. I then got a bit over-excitedwhen I wanted to pass Philippaerts. It was not totally my fault. It was just aracing accident. It took a while before we got untangled and I was at the backand really disappointed. In the second race my start was good and I wanted tofollow Josh because it is easy to blow yourself up on this track if you gocrazy. We both moved past Mike Brown, but Ken de Dycker came through. At the endhe tired and I thought I might be able to get him but I made some mistakes anddecided to have a safe finish. Third is not so bad and lifts my results andpoints in the right direction again."

Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team:
"It has been avery good home GP and I am very happy mainly because the weekend did not startin the best way. Josh did not feel very comfortable on this track and westruggled on Saturday to get him running well with the bike, so we were notexpecting such a good race. Josh showed one of his very positive characteristicsthough and reacted strongly. With good starts he had the patience to wait forthe right moment to attack and won both motos. About Marc, I am pleased becausephysically he is getting better and speed-wise he is there, but I wasdisappointed when he crashed in the first moto and threw away a big chance forthe race win. He proved that he was ready to win, but maybe he wasn't patientenough and that's a pity. He made up for it with a consistent race in the secondmoto and third place was very good for him because he needs the points."

More like this…

Cairoli scores quartet of GP wins

Salminen continues to dominate E1 in Portugal

KTM out for podiums and points in Italy