The start of the international Motocross season has successfully kicked off under clear Italian skies in Mantova this weekend. Factory Yamaha rider, Josh Coppins, made full use of the renowned ‘Star Cross’ to work on pre-season settings and to get some race time under his belt.

Coppins rode to third in the first moto after a good start however a first turn pile up in moto two ruined any chances of a consecutive podium. Coppins remounted and fought his way back into the top ten despite the one lined track.

The third and deciding moto would see another consistent finish by the “Lizzard” with third place handing the New Zealander second overall for the day in the MX1 class.

“ I must say I’m quite happy with second overall being my first race on the Yamaha. I didn’t have it at all easy today and there are still lots of things we need to work on. My starts were quite good and consistent which I’m happy about. I’ll be staying in Italy to do some suspension testing with Kayaba before we head to Montevarchi for the first round of the Italian champs.”, explained Coppins.

Coppins will return to the Mantova stadium later in the year when the Italian GP will be hosted at the same circuit on the 6th of May

RESULTS STARCROSS MANTOVA:

MX1 Overall:

1 NAGL Maximilian GER Ktm 18 25 22 = 65pts
2 COPPINS Joshua NZL Yamaha 22 16 20 = 58pts
3 BARRAGAN Jonathan SPA Ktm 16 13 25 = 54pts
4 PHILIPPAERTS David ITA Ktm 25 12 16 = 53pts
5 STRIJBOS Kevin BEL Suzuki 20 14 15 = 49pts
6 PICHON Mickael FRA Ktm 14 18 10 = 42pts
7 DE REUVER Marc NED Yamaha 5 20 14 = 39pts
8 BILL Julien SWI Kawasaki 11 15 12 = 38pts
9 LEOK Tanel EST Kawasaki 12 22 = 34 pts
10 RAMON Steve BEL Suzuki 10 6 18 = 34pts