Fim Mx1 / Mx2 World Motocross Championship Round 09 Of 15

[Andy]

Second consecutive podium for Coppins

CAS Honda rider Josh Coppins gained third overall and his second podium result in two weeks today at a bright and busy Uddevalla circuit for the Grand Prix of Sweden, the ninth round of fifteen in the 2006 FIM MX1 World Championship.

After a well-deserved break following three consecutive races the Grand Prix paddock reconvened in the pleasant and well-organised surroundings of the Uddevalla circuit less than a 100km north of Gothenburg. The track layout had been significantly altered compared to previous years and boasted more technical sections and jumps as well as being run in reverse.

Uddevalla has been a consistent and reliable part of the World Championship since the beginning of the century and a race day attendance of 19,000 confirmed the popularity of the event.

Coppins came to Scandinavia closer to full fitness after taking a podium two weeks ago at Matterley Basin on his first race appearance of the season and then winning both motos of last week's British Championship event in Northern Ireland. The Kiwi passed a fading Tanel Leok in the first moto for third position and his second top three appearance from three motos. The race was quite a straightforward affair and completely different to the dog-fight the New Zealander experienced with Wulfsport Honda rider Gordon Crockard later in the day. Both CRF450R riders checked the other but Coppins came off the worse in the second 'coming together' and his spill forced a second race fifth place fiish after being pushed over the berm.

The performance was still good enough for a champagne celebration at the venue where has celebrated success for the past two years.

Crockard was fifth overall for his best classification in three seasons.

The Irishman collected finishes off seventh and fourth after a pair of decent starts and also gave the Irish Wulfsport crew their highest result in two years of Grand Prix competition. In hot and demanding conditions, and on a dry and bumpy track, his scrap with Coppins was one of the action highlights of the second race.

Martin Honda's Javier Garcia Vico was right behind Crockard with sixth overall thanks to classifications of ninth and seventh. The Spaniard is really starting to find his feet again on the world stage and with the speed of Grand Prix racing after almost two seasons out through injury.

His team-mate Brian Jorgensen fought through a very painful semi-home GP with a damaged coccyx. The Dane had to withdraw from the British round two weeks ago with intense pain in his lower back and was uncertain about his participation at Uddevalla until after the first practice session. He went gingerly from session to session and was fourteenth overall after a gallant effort.

CAS Honda rider Ken de Dycker nursed a sore hand through a set of physically demanding motos and did not enjoy the best of starts in either joust. He was eighth and ninth to slot in behind Vico in the final GP standings among a gaggle of five Honda machines in the top ten.

Stefan Everts won the Grand Prix for the ninth consecutive time with another emphatic double, and leads Kevin Strijbos and Tanel Leok in the World Championship points table by a hefty margin. De Dycker rests fifth but only two points away from the top three with five rounds left to run.

In MX2 David Philippaerts toasted his third GP in succession from Christophe Pourcel and Tommy Searle. Martin Honda rider Antoine Meo will undergo surgery on his broken knee on Saturday while Patrick Caps (SRS

Honda) is recovering from a broken collarbone. Honda's MX2 lines were further reduced when Shaun Simpson crashed competing for a podium result at the fifth round of the British Championship last week and has dislocated his shoulder.

The second and final round of the FIM Women's World Cup saw Katherine Prumm emerge as Champion. Larissa Papenmeier was seventh and the best-placed Honda representative.

The tenth round of the World Championship schedule for two weeks time with the second fly-away of the season. The Sun City complex will host the Grand Prix of South Africa for the third consecutive year and for the final time before the race moves south to Durban in 2007.

Josh Coppins, CAS Honda: "Gordon hit me pretty hard in that second moto but I left the door open so it was a little bit my fault. It was an aggressive move but that is motocross and I am not complaining. I was in that position because I was not fit enough and this is what I need to work on. I also need more race speed at the start and with more motos this will get better.

A few weeks ago if you would have offered me two podiums on my two first races back then I would have taken that for sure. I am not improving as fast as I would like but I am doing my best."

Ken de Dycker, CAS Honda: "It was not going well for me today. I had some bad lines and could not find my speed. I felt tired quickly in the heat.

Towards the end of the second heat my hands started hurting. I just want to forget this weekend and look forward to the next one."

Brian Jorgensen, Martin Honda: "It has been a tough weekend. I had a lot of pain from the first practice and it was hard mentally to know if I would be able to make it through each session. I had to take a lot of painkillers just to get in the gate for that first race. I made a good start but the pain in my back meant that I could not keep the pace. My whole upper body and arms felt tense and I finished twelfth which was the best I could do.

In the second moto I felt like I might be able to improve on that but I collided with Pyrhonen and we went off the track. It was a struggle. After

15 minutes my vision was going with some momentary blackouts landing from the jumps. I am feeling down at the moment because I want to be here so much but this is one of those injuries that cannot be fixed quickly. I have worked so hard and now have to make a decision about South Africa."

Javier Garcia Vico, Martin Honda: "This result is important for me because I feel much better now and with the bike especially. I am up to seventh in the Championship and this has been down to some hard work. I want to thank my mechanics and to Honda for their support."

Gordon Crockard, Wulfsport Honda: "It's steadily coming back. I am really pleased I got fourth and especially for the team. I will keep trying and it has been a long road back. A various times I wondered if a result like this would ever happen again, so today was really nice. It is like being a youngster again! I was enjoying it out there. I was stuck behind Josh and I thought 'this is going to be horrible'. There were parts where I was faster than him and then he was quicker than me; our lines were so different. I kind of passed him once but he 'parked' me, so I thought that gave me a green light to park him. He went right off the track and that was unlucky but it was a hard fight and you have to give as hard as you get."

Results Motocross

MX1 Race 1 (22 laps = 33.77 Km)

Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time

1 / Everts, Stefan / BEL / Yamaha / 38:45.263

2 / Barragan, Jonathan / SPA / KTM / 38:49.587

3 / Coppins, Joshua / NZL / Honda / 38:59.374

4 / Ramon, Steve / BEL / Suzuki / 39:08.633

5 / Leok, Tanel / EST / Kawasaki / 39:10.204

6 / Strijbos, Kevin / BEL / Suzuki / 39:39.494

7 / Crockard, Gordon / IRL / Honda / 39:44.866

8 / de Dycker, Ken / BEL / Honda / 39:53.874

9 / Garcia Vico, Francisco / SPA / Honda / 39:58.823 10 / Noble, James / GBR / Honda / 40:03.704

11 / Melotte, Cedric / BEL / Yamaha / 40:10.230

12 / Jorgensen, Brian / DEN / Honda / 40:15.614

13 / Bill, Julien / SUI / Yamaha / 40:19.290

14 / van Daele, Marvin / BEL / Honda / 40:24.227

15 / Theybers, Danny / BEL / Suzuki / 40:25.873 Fastest Lap: COPPINS Joshua in 1:44.423 on lap 13

MX1 Race 2 (22 laps = 33.77 Km)

Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time

1 / Everts, Stefan / BEL / Yamaha / 39:54.109

2 / Ramon, Steve / BEL / Suzuki / 39:57.990

3 / Strijbos, Kevin / BEL / Suzuki / 40:11.519

4 / Crockard, Gordon / IRL / Honda / 40:17.076

5 / Coppins, Joshua / NZL / Honda / 40:24.811

6 / Nemeth, Kornel / HUN / Suzuki / 40:42.143

7 / Garcia Vico, Francisco / SPA / Honda / 40:53.847

8 / Noble, James / GBR / Honda / 41:01.907

9 / de Dycker, Ken / BEL / Honda / 41:09.960 10 / Bill, Julien / SUI / Yamaha / 41:12.756

11 / Priem, Manuel / BEL / Yamaha / 41:15.695

12 / Freibergs, Lauris / LAT / Suzuki / 41:21.322

13 / Kovalainen, Marko / FIN / Honda / 41:24.846

14 / Pyrhonen, Antti / FIN / TM / 41:30.950

15 / Bradshaw, Neville / RSA / Suzuki / 41:31.968 Fastest Lap: RAMON Steve in 1:46.869 on lap 7

MX1 World Motocross Championship Standings Pos Rider Total

1 Everts, Stefan 442, 2 Strijbos, K. 328, 3 Leok, Tanel 294, 4 Ramon, Steve 294,

5 de Dycker, Ken 292, 6 Barragan, J. 212, 7 Garcia Vico, F. 165, 8 Leuret, Pascal 159,

9 Melotte, C. 157, 10 Priem, Manuel 146, 11 Bill, J. 145, 12 Noble, James 132,

13 Jorgensen, B. 131, 14 van Daele, M. 127, 15 Pyrhonen, A. 106..

MX2 Race 1 (22 laps = 33.77 Km)

Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time

1 / Philippaerts, David / ITA / KTM / 39:17.217

2 / Cairoli, Antonio / ITA / Yamaha / 39:17.325

3 / Pourcel, Christophe / FRA / Kawasaki / 39:26.471

4 / de Reuver, Marc / NED / KTM / 39:35.574

5 / Rattray, Tyla / RSA / KTM / 39:40.524

6 / Swanepoel, Garreth / RSA / Kawasaki / 39:56.570

7 / Searle, Tommy / GBR / Kawasaki / 40:05.312

8 / Chiodi, Alessio / ITA / Yamaha / 40:13.896

9 / Goncalves, Rui / POR / KTM / 40:19.266 10 / Gundersen, Kenneth / NOR / Yamaha / 40:20.874

11 / Nunn, Carl / GBR / KTM / 40:31.440

12 / Leok, Aigar / EST / Yamaha / 40:39.032

13 / Aubin, Nicolas / FRA / KTM / 40:39.120

14 / Remes, Eero / FIN / Honda / 40:54.631

15 / Wing, Jonas / SWE / KTM / 41:03.378 Fastest Lap: CAIROLI Antonio in 1:44.703 on lap 22

MX2 Race 2 (22 laps = 33.77 Km)

Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time

1 / Pourcel, Christophe / FRA / Kawasaki / 40:13.934

2 / Philippaerts, David / ITA / KTM / 40:25.008

3 / Searle, Tommy / GBR / Kawasaki / 40:47.512

4 / Swanepoel, Garreth / RSA / Kawasaki / 40:48.820

5 / de Reuver, Marc / NED / KTM / 40:54.104

6 / Guarneri, Davide / ITA / Yamaha / 40:57.170

7 / Nunn, Carl / GBR / KTM / 41:02.036

8 / Gundersen, Kenneth / NOR / Yamaha / 41:05.485

9 / Mackenzie, Billy / GBR / Yamaha / 41:05.991 10 / Pourcel, Sebastien / FRA / Kawasaki / 41:20.668

11 / Monni, Manuel / ITA / KTM / 41:23.859

12 / Cairoli, Antonio / ITA / Yamaha / 41:27.620

13 / Chiodi, Alessio / ITA / Yamaha / 41:28.928

14 / Campano, Carlos / SPA / KTM / 41:49.026

15 / Aubin, Nicolas / FRA / KTM / 42:01.796 Fastest Lap: POURCEL Christophe in 1:47.608 on lap 3

MX2 World Motocross Championship Standings Pos Rider Total

1 Pourcel, C. 350, 2 Philippaerts, D. 304, 3 Cairoli, A. 302, 4 de Reuver, M. 284,

5 Rattray, Tyla 261, 6 Mackenzie, B. 213, 7 Nunn, Carl 205, 8 Searle, Tommy 196,

9 Gundersen, K. 194, 10 Swanepoel, G. 181, 11 Pourcel, S. 180, 12 Goncalves, Rui 169,

13 Chiodi, A. 164, 14 Guarneri, D. 127, 15 Monni, Manuel 99.

[rabie]

its the return of crockard ..... now lets see if he can mantian this form (way back in the day he was 2nd in the 250cc world champs)