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The re-designed French circuit of St Jean d’Angely has delivered a 1-2 Kiwi success with Josh Coppins and fellow New Zealander Ben Townley occupying the top two positions of the MX1 podium.
Sweltering conditions would not make life any easier for the riders as they lined up for the first race of the day. Coppins knew the importance of good start and was in third spot as he exited the second hairpin turn. Everts and Pichon were just ahead as “Lizzard” concentrated on keeping his old rivals within sight. Ben Townley caught the CAS Honda rider off guard as he went through to third, however Coppins was not going to let up just yet. Both Kiwi’s turned up the pace and started to close down the leaders. First victim to the Kiwi express train was Frenchman, Pichon who had no answer for the duo. Coppins once again found a burst of energy and came back at Townley one last time before he had to let his younger counterpart go. A great ride delivered ‘Lizzard’ third position at the fall of the flag.
The number five CAS Honda shot out of the start gate to grab the hole-shot in race two but Coppins’ lead was short lived as Townley, Atsuta, Everts and Pichon snuck by. Everts disappeared off the radar after a crash nevertheless Coppins regained his form and started to post some extremely fast lap times. With fifteen minutes gone on the clock, Coppins was up into third position and hauling in Pichon. He flew passed the Frenchman and was well on his way to a well deserved second place finish. Coppins crossed the finish line in second behind countryman and friend, Ben Townley to make MX1 history with two Kiwi’s taking the top two spots of the podium.
“I found the track very difficult to start off with and I had two big crashes yesterday. Other than that I enjoyed it and I think the club did a great job. I’m happy for them as they have put a lot of effort into this track with the new dirt and they deserve it. I’m still going to try and get as many podiums as possible and try to be consistent throughout the season. I’m happy for Ben that he won and for Motorcycling in New Zealand and obviously for the both of us. It is good for N.Z because it’s a small country and they have a lot of young riders so it’s something for them to look up to,” explained Coppins.
