The daddies!
By TMX Archives on 4th Jun 04
SWORDY DOESN'T get on the top step of the podium at Gore Basin but just about everybody goes home happy as GP motocross returns to these shores with a bang over the Bank Holiday weekend.And Britain does actually win the MX1 class with SWORDY DOESN'T get on the top step of the podium at Gore Basin but just about everybody goes home happy as GP motocross returns to these shores with a bang over the Bank Holiday weekend.And Britain does actually win the MX1 class with domestic championship leader Josh Coppins (okay, he's from New Zealand but we're claiming him) turning the tables on Mickael Pichon in the second moto to finally record his first GP victory after years of near misses.It's most definitely a Kiwi day on the Isle of Wight as Ben Townley sweeps both motos of the MX2 class. BT's team-mate Tyla Rattray pushes Swordy down to third, the South African impressing everyone as he rides the wheels off his 125cc Champ KTM.The massive crowd - a genuine 23,000 at the first British GP since Y2K and the biggest of the season so far - are also winners, witnessing four superb races on the awesome Gore Basin track, almost universally acclaimed as the most exhilarating in Europe.Youthstream boss Giuseppe Luongo reckons everything's out of the top drawer - the track, the surroundings, the racing, the public, the programme - and Rob Bradley and his RTT crew have wide grins on their faces as the whole weekend package of entertainment goes down a bomb, not only with the public but also with the island authorities.The British GP at Gore Basin will be a permanent fixture on the world championship calendar in years to come as the act to match and any award for GP of the Year is already a foregone conclusion!The crowd go wild as Swordy holeshots the first MX2 race and the noise doesn't subside even when the Scot stalls it a lap-and-a-half in to drop to sixth. CAS Honda guest Akira Narita pushes Townley for 10 minutes until he tires. Next man up is Rattray, closing down his team-mate to prove the track is fair to two-stroke and four-stroke alike as the pair leap off the hillside, storm through the whoops and fly through the combinations side-by-side before the Kiwi finally gets the upper hand.Swordy is on a mission, dropping his lap times into the 2:11s to pass Carl Nunn, Andrew McFarlane and Narita in two scintillating mid-race laps to regain third. But the KTMs are gone and we must wait for race two for the green/orange battle to be renewed.Nunny gives RTT top six as top Englishman, Jamie Dobb comes through the pack after being sandwiched out of the gate for seventh and Billy MacKenzie - still physically in such a state he shouldn't be racing - is an amazing 10th. And Brad Anderson, finally getting a GP start again after waiting for four years, scores his first ever points.BT edges through turn one in front in race two but Swordy's alongside him and pushes past before they launch off the hillside to lead for three marvellous laps. The Kiwi then finds a gap out of nowhere at the spine jump and is just too fast for Stephen today. But BT's worries ain't over as Rattray also moves past the Kawa and once again gets onto Townley's tail before the Kiwi reacts to clinch his fifth GP win of the year.A crash costs Nunny fifth but he gets back on for seventh while Dobber has to be content with 13th this time after getting nailed by a crasher on the opening lap.Mickael Pichon seems dominant in MX1 as he roasts them in qualifying and storms away with race one - but Coppins has other ideas in race two. The Kiwi hauls in the Frenchie before half-distance but he has to go for the pass and show his lines because Stefan Everts, struggling so much in race one that he even hands third to Steve Ramon, is being towed through in his wake.Josh makes a spectacular outside run at the swoop into the valley to leap past Pichon downhill but he can't shake the two-time champ who's now picking up his lines. Still, their increased pace is too much for Everts who settles for a distant third at the flag.Pichon will not settle voluntarily for anything less than the win but neither will Josh and the last three laps are phenomenal. Time and again they touch but Josh has been slammed by the Frenchman often enough in the past to know what to expect and braces himself each time for the impact.The final broadside comes at the chicane halfway round the final lap. Josh stays on, MP wobbles and the race is run. The world's most famous runner-up is now a winner and buddy BT - his housemate in Belgium - is waiting at the finish line to greet him.Native Brits have a hard time in MX1, particularly Chris Burnham who thinks he has the holeshot nailed in the opener but collects the gate instead. But all who start eventually score and it's Motovision's Tanel Leok who's the second British (okay, he's from Estonia but we're claiming him as well) hero of the class.Twice Leok advances to fifth, even catching up to Stefan Everts in race one - and he's far and away the best Suzuki on the day, actually passing Smets in race two after both factory bikes have gone out of the opener after crashing.An amazing day and one which goes on long into the night, both for the punch-drunk fans who start the tortuous journey home and for those who stay behind to celebrate at the track before leaving the next day.Among them are Coppins and Townley. "We've got to go to the doping control as winners now," grins the Lizzard, "and that always takes me a long time so for sure I missed my ferry reservation this evening. But I think this is going to be a long night!"By Alex Hodgkinson