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Coppins goes 1-1 to retain his British MX1 crown as the domestic series goes down to the wire at Matchams
After storms dampen the going at both Landrake and Whitby the sun's finally shining for the eighth and final round of the Maxxis British motocross championship at Matchams Park. Ironically, the circuit that sits right on the Hampshire/Dorset border is probably the track that's more suited for running in wet conditions than any of the season's others - oh well!
With just eight points separating MX1's top three championship challengers as they come into Matchams you just know it's gonna be a barnstormer with the only certainty being that the title's going the way of a Honda rider. It's defending champ Josh Coppins who heads the hunt for CAS but both Multitek's Paul Cooper and RWJ's James Noble are in with a shout and hungry for success.
But against all odds it's Yamaha's Martin Barr who's got his bars in front as the pack leave turn one and head off along that stupendously rough, long right-hander that kicks off the Matchams lap.
And the young Irishman still leads at the end of lap one before Coppins and Coops blast by and Barr bins it, slipping back to 15th or so. Noble, Jordan Rose and Neville 'the beast from the south east' Bradshaw all move up a position thanks to Martin's mistake - although Bradshaw doesn't stay there too long as his spluttering Suzuki finally packs up right around the 15-minute mark.
At the front Coops is losing time to Coppins who's cruising to his ninth Maxxis moto win on the trot. Paul hangs on to second with Whitby boys Noble and Rose filling the front four while Barr battles back to fifth and first non-red rider home.
Moto two is almost Coppins all the way. Josh yanks the holeshot and pulls out a small gap before making a big mistake on lap three which allows Cooper by for a while. But it doesn't take JC long to recover his composure and within a lap he's back out front and putting down laptimes that are over three seconds faster than everybody bar Coops and Noble.
But despite being one of the quickest riders on the track Noble's already blown it. He hits the startgate and then has a quick lie-down in turn one before getting back up and lighting the wick on his rocket-powered CRF450. Moving from last to 20th on lap one, James takes eight more scalps on the second tour and five further in the next 20 minutes to grab seventh by the end - one spot behind Lithuanian Essex boy Arunas Gelazninkas who's enjoying the rough sandy going on his TP Motorcycles-sponsored Honda.
The top five are led home by the new champ who also happens to be the old champ - long live the champ we say! Coops holds on for the runner-up spot in the race and the final series standings while Yoshi Atsuta grabs the final podium spot in his farewell Maxxis ride for Motovision Suzuki. Atsuta's team-mate Bradshaw is next and Gordon Crockard takes fifth on the Dixon Yamaha.
While Steve Dixon's MX1 boys can only grab a fifth apiece their team-mate Billy MacKenzie romps home to a pair of outstanding wins in the MX2 division. But Billy doesn't have it all his own way...
Champ KTM's recently crowned British champ Carl Nunn launches from the startgate to an early race lead in moto one but Billy's right with him and so are Jason Dougan, Gareth Swanepoel, Wayne Smith and lightning-fast schoolboy-sensation Elliot Banks-Browne who are all chasing hard on the ever-roughening 1,500 metre circuit.
On lap five Billy makes a move to take the lead and immediately pulls a small gap on Nunn who seems to be coming under increasing pressure from Doogs who's having his best domestic ride since finishing second at Landrake. Swanny's still holding on to fourth while his Molson team-mate Tommy Searle scythes his way to fifth from way outside the top 10. The top five hold their positions right to the death and the only real on-track battle is over 11th as Honda riders Ben Saunders, Jake Nicholls and Danny Smyth fight it out in a private battle behind CAS team-manager Neil Prince who's enjoying a rare ride out to finish the race in 10th.
Moto two starts pretty much the same as the first as Nunny lays down the awesome power of the factory SXF to take the lead. Swanny runs second early on until Billy Mac piles on plenty of pressure and does both Gareth and Carl in quick succession. From there on he's gone, Nunny settles in second and Swanny stays safe in third.
Fourth place is a totally different matter. Brad Anderson holds the position early doors until Searle blazes by then bins it allowing Ando back through. But Doogs also fancies a crack at fourth and forces his way past Bradley to hold down the position until Tommy once more comes hauling past. And that's the way things end - MacKenzie's the deserved winner followed by Nunny, Swanny, Searley, Doogie, Ando and KRM's Scott Probert who ends up right back where he started in seventh.
The final series standings see Innovate Honda's Wayne Smith - who's had a nightmare day by his standards to go 6-dnf - finally leapfrog the injured Tom Church to end the year in third behind MacKenzie and Nunn while Searle slips past Ando for fifth in his rookie season.
Josh Coppins
MX1 Matchams Park 1-1
"I was a little bit disappointed not to have taken pole position but Paul was on fire in qualification. I had good starts for the motos - I was second in the first race and then had the lead out of the gate in the second. I've been trying to improve on my riding and I was happy with my first moto performance, I didn't let up and kept pushing. p "I made a big mistake halfway through the second race because the sun was quite low and getting all the jumps right was difficult but I regained my composure and pulled out a big lead to win by the end. Winning 10 motos in a row is a record for me, when I came back from injury I wanted to win them all and I knew it would be possible but I didn't have a good day at Lyng - thankfully since then there's been a gradual improvement."
