Coppins Wins In Sweden

| July 5, 2005

CAS Honda rider Josh Coppins won the Grand Prix of Sweden, held at the Uddevalla Circuit last Sunday. The New Zealander showed that he is serious about chasing down series leader and defending champion Stefan Everts in the World MX1 championship.

Coppins won both motos for his first overall victory of the year.

Second place in the MX1 was Ben Townley of the KTM factory team. The MX2 World champ looked strong in the opening moto, finishing a close second to Coppins, and then fought back from a bad start in the second moto to finish in third place.

Third overall was Rinaldi Yamaha rider Stefan Everts with 4-4 results. The defending champion never came to terms with the tough Swedish layout, and a crash in the first corner of the opening moto cost him any chance of fighting for the victory. Everts came from last to fourth in the second moto, which was a huge effort.

In the MX2 class it was Italian rider Antonio Cairoli who won with 1-1 results over Andrew McFarlane 2-2 and David Philippaerts 3-3. Cairoli also made up some points on series leader McFarlane in the points race, although Alessio Chiodi, who was second in the series points, had a terrible day, leaving McFarlane now with a 25-point lead in the series with seven rounds remaining.

Cedric Melotte of the Rinaldi Yamaha team finished in fifth overall and remains in fourth place in the series points. Melotte finished fourth in the opening moto, although he could only score a ninth in moto two.

MX1 moto1: 1. Josh Coppins (Hon); 2. Ben Townley (KTM); 3. Jonathan Barragan (KTM); 4. Stefan Everts (Yam); 5. Steve Ramon (KTM); 6. Tanel Leok (Kaw); 7. Ken De Dijcker (Hon); 8. James Noble (Hon); 9. Pascal Leuret (Hon); 10. Antti Pyrhonen (TM); 11. Manuel Priem (Yam); 12. Yoshi Atsuta (Suz); 13. Kornel Nemeth (Suz); 14. Danny Theybers (Suz); 15. Luigi Seguy (Yam)

MX1 moto2: 1. Josh Coppins (Hon); 2. Joel Smets (Suz); 3. Ben Townley (KTM); 4. Stefan Everts (Yam); 5. Steve Ramon (KTM); 6. James Noble (Hon); 7. Pascal Leuret (Hon; 8. Danny Theybers (Suz); 9. Yoshi Atsuta (Suz); 10. Kornel Nemeth (Suz); 11. Jonathan Barragan (KTM); 12. Ken De Dijcker (Hon); 13. Luigi Seguy (Yam); 14. Tanel Leok (Kaw); 15. Andrey Safronov (KTM)

MX1 championship points: 1. Stefan Everts (411/5wins); 2. Josh Coppins (366/1); 3. Ben Townley (346/3); 4. Joel Smets (318); 5. Mickael Pichon (299/1); 6. Steve Ramon (264); 7. James Nobles (188); 8. Pascal Leuret (185); 9. Ken De Dijcker (171); 10. Brian Jorgensen (166); 11. Jonathan Barragan (165); 12. Danny Theybers (161); 13. Tanel Leok (154); 14. Antti Pyrhonen (TM); 15. Marvin Van Daele (136)

MX2 moto1: 1. Antonio Cairoli (Yam); 2. Andrew McFarlane (Yam); 3. David Philippaerts (KTM); 4. Cedric Melotte (Yam); 5. Mickael Maschio (Yam); 6. Davide Guarneri (Yam); 7. Carl Nunn (KTM); 8. Christophe Pourcel (Kaw); 9. Tom Church (Kaw); 10. Gareth Swanepoel (Kaw); 11. Aigar Leok (KTM); 12. Wyatt Avis (Hon); 13. Matti Seistola (Hon); 14. Rui Goncalves (Yam); 15. Matteo Bonini (Hon)

MX2 moto2: 1. Antonio Cairoli (Yam); 2. Andrew McFarlane (Yam); 3. David Philippaerts (KTM); 4. Carl Nunn (KTM); 5. Christophe Pourcel (Kaw); 6. Alessio Chiodi (Yam); 7. Max Nagl (KTM); 8. Wyatt Avis (Hon); 9. Cedric Melotte (Yam); 10. Rui Goncalves (Yam); 11. Aigar Leok (KTM); 12. Anthony Boissiere (Yam); 13. Matteo Bonini (Hon); 14. Matti Seistola (Hon); 15. Tom Church (Kaw)

MX2 championship points: 1. Andrew McFarlane (345/3wins)); 2. Antonio Cairoli (320/3); 3. Alessio Chiodi (310/1); 4. Cedric Melotte (267); 5. Stephen Sword (262); 6. David Philippaerts (2581); 7. Carl Nunn (198); 8. Billy Mackenzie (188); 9. Mickael Maschio (185); 10. Rui Goncalves (183); 11. Christophe Pourcel (171); 12. Davide Guarneri (163); 13. Patrick Caps (153); 14. Anthony Boissiere (134); 15. Tom Church (122)

By Freelance