Coppins grabs MX1 victory for Monster Energy

Coppins grabs MX1 victory for Monster Energy

Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team celebrate win for New Zealander in Bulgaria / Steven Frossard takes victory for Monster Energy in second MX2 moto


LONDON, UK, (April 5th, 2009) - The Monster Army continued to march through the FIM Motocross World Championship with the second round of 15 in the 2009 series taking place under blue skies and bright sunshine at the impressive Sevlievo circuit for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria. Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team’s Josh Coppins scaled the heights of the MX1 podium for the first time since the GP of Germany in June 2008 and gave the distinctive green claw its first appearance on the top step this season.


The New Zealander – one of the most experienced and popular riders currently operating on the Grand Prix scene – completed two consistent and steady races in what was a set of tense and exciting encounters across the fast Bulgarian hard-pack. 28,000 spectators (weekend figure) watched the 31-year-old capture second positions on both occasions; narrowly missing the win in Moto1 by less than two seconds from Ken De Dycker and then resisting the attention of team-mate and world champion David Philippaerts (who was fourth overall on the works Yamaha) and Antonio Cairoli in Moto2.


The feat gave the Monster Energy-backed Yamaha team its second successive victory in Bulgaria after Philippaerts’ win 12 months ago. “This is still sinking in but to be honest I thought I had it in me. I have been riding well at both GPs, in the practices and the races,” said Coppins. “I am a bit relieved I guess, because there hasn’t been a whole lot of talk about me coming into this season and I believed in myself and I always like to prove people wrong! I broke away at the start of the second race but I could not maintain it but this track tends to see people hitting different speeds. I am happy for myself, the team and the people that believed in me. The Yamaha was great today and I know we have more to come from it with some upgrades soon. The team have worked hard to give me what I asked for over the winter and it shows.”


Kawasaki Bud Racing’s David Vuillemin was ninth overall and had to recover from two mediocre starts. The Frenchman and veteran AMA campaigner launched the second phase of his Grand Prix career in true-fashion, after the debacle of the Faenza mud bath last weekend.


It was a hard meeting for the works CAS Honda team as Billy Mackenzie only finished one moto (ninth) after a water pump problem in the opening sprint while Cedric Melotte suffered a compression to his back and didn’t complete more than several laps all day. “I kind of struggled all weekend really,” commented Mackenzie. “I have never liked this track or had good results here. I had a problem with my starts and we also had a mishap with the bike. After running quite high in the first moto I started to lose power and I wasn’t sure whether to carry on or not but this is quite a dangerous track with some huge jumps so I decided not to risk a big crash. The team found and solved the problem for the second moto and it was a real battle out there - everyone was swapping bumps and lines. I was missing a few ruts and making some mistakes but eventually I found my rhythm although it wasn’t really fast enough. My wrist and my tendonitis is a bit better and so is my rib but I am missing some good, hard motos, especially in these warm conditions so that’s what we will be working on after the trip to Turkey next week.”


The MX2 class saw several of the talented young crop of French riders burst to the fore. The motos were won by Honda’s Marvin Musquin (for the first time) and CLS Kawasaki’s Steven Frossard, with Musquin celebrating his and Honda’s first success in the category. Monster Energy’s Frossard should perhaps have had his countryman’s place on the rostrum as he had been holding second spot with authority in the first race but crashed and retired thanks to a broken gearbox.


Runner-up was Italian GP winner and mud-conqueror Gautier Paulin (Kawasaki Bud Racing) with two second positions on the KX250F. The French teenager proved his speed in the dry – as much as his skill through the slime – and holds onto the red plate as series leader for the second event in a row.


Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci Racing saw their riders Nico Aubin and Davide Guarneri finish fourth and fifth. Italian Guarneri was the only non-Frenchman in the top five. Aubin suffered with a stomach virus while Guarneri is still finding his condition and speed to run with the leaders after a knee ligament operation in the winter.


In the world championship standings Paulin holds a four-point lead over Musquin and 19 from Guarneri. In MX1 Coppins is second and just a single point away from De Dycker. Philippaerts is the next Monster Army rep in sixth.


Round three will take place next weekend, over Easter. For the first time ever a Grand Prix event will head to Turkey and the unique city of Istanbul.




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