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Coppins sensational at Sun City GP.
New Zealand MX star, Josh Coppins has run away with his second consecutive GP win of the season in front of sell out South African crowd at the magnificent Sun City resort in South Africa.
The much anticipated MX 1 race got underway with Ben Townley leading countryman Josh Coppins followed by Stefan Everts. Coppins lost no time in moving into the lead but lost the clear track advantage moments later when Townley regained the lead. Everts also snuck past the CAS Honda however Coppins smartly kept the Belgian close and watched his every move. Disaster struck for Townley when he went down hard, just before the finish table top, which left Coppins to do battle with Everts. After sizing up the Belgian, Coppins made a move just after the halfway point to take the lead. The partisan crowd cheered on the Kiwi however, Everts came back a lap later to regain the lead. Once again, the CAS Honda machine was onto Everts’ back wheel and pressurizing for a mistake. With four laps to go, Coppins made an ultimate pass to recapture the lead, much to the delight of the screaming crowd. ‘Lizzard’ pulled out all the stops and crossed the finish line as the deserved winner.
The deciding and final race of the day would turn out to be one for the books. Coppins was well positioned in the start however arch rival Everts got the better start and moved into the lead with Coppins hot on his heels. For 15 consecutive laps, Coppins hounded the Belgian but had to let him go when the track became unpredictable due to a setting African sun. With one lap to go the South African spectators went bezerk as Everts hit the dirt, handing Coppins the victory on a silver platter!
“I was pretty lucky!” smiled Coppins “Of course it’s always good to win but I never expected to win like that – it’s not so nice to win. It’s better to win because you’re the best. I was the best in the first race but got a lot of cramp in the second race. My speed was ok but I was struggling with cramp. I want to show Stefan that I want to race for the championship. Even though he has a big lead we’ve seen him make mistakes, more this year than ever before and we saw this in the last lap. This is the time to push on and make as many points as possible. This has been the best race of my career.”
