Coppins Leads Yamaha Sweep
JUNE 1, 2015: It is only on rare occasions these days that
former Grand Prix motocross star Josh Coppins puts down his
manager's clip-board and heads out himself to do battle on a
bike.
But the weekend's iconic Michael Godfrey Memorial Motocross,
near Waipara in North Canterbury, was one of those opportunities
the Yamaha hero found too good to pass up.
The 38-year-old two-time former world No.2 and former New
Zealand, former Australian and former British motocross champion
showed he had not forgotten how to twist a throttle as he dominated
the weekend in the premier MX1 (450cc) class.
Coppins finished with a 1-1-1-2-2 score-card for the two-day
event, shading his Altherm JCR Racing Yamaha team-mate Ethan
Martens, of Waitakere, who carded 2-2-3-3-1 results, and making it
a sweet Yamaha 1-2 for the weekend.
"It was a great weekend for the whole team," said Coppins
afterwards.
"We had a good representation from Yamaha right across the
board. It was a bit of a last-minute decision for me to race here
but it's a big event and I thought we should have some
representation from the Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team here.
"It was tough for me because I was also trying to keep one eye
on what was happening across the Tasman at the Australian Motocross
Championships round in Coolum, where we had (New Zealand MX2
champion) Jay Wilson racing for us. He finished third overall on
the day in the MX2 class there and is now second in the
championship chase.
"I really needed my GP experience to cope with the 30-minute
races here at the Michael Godfrey Memorial event. I used to suffer
every weekend when I raced the GPs and so I knew what I'd be going
through here too.
"I really enjoyed it though. It was good fun."
Rangiora's Micah McGoldrick won the MX2 class with a string of
five wins, while Nelson's Isaac Millson took his Yamaha YZ125 to
win the senior 125cc class with 3-1-1-1-1 results.
It was more Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team dominance in the
all-in Michael Godfrey feature race as Coppins again led home
Martens, with McGoldrick, Christchurch's former national MX1
champion Justin McDonald and Taupo's former national junior 125cc
and 250cc champion Cohen Chase rounding out the top five.
Meanwhile, Nelson's Reece Walker and Taupo's 2015 national
junior 125cc champion Wyatt Chase took their Yamaha bikes to finish
1-2 in the Junior 125-250 feature race.
Walker had also earlier won the junior 14-16 years' 250cc class
outright and Wyatt Chase had won the junior 12-16 years' 125cc
class overall.
Matamata's Brodie Connolly won the 12-16 years' 85-150cc
category.
Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com