As the FIM MX GP series nears the halfway mark, Josh Coppins, of the Yamaha Monster team has clawed his way back into the MX1 championship hunt after an impressive performance in St Jean d’Angely, France.

The New Zealander looked to have a shot at the first moto victory when he was leading in front of crowd favorite, Sebastien Pourcel. Coppins ran a little wide before the whoop section, only ten minutes into the moto, and collected track side bunting which effected his rear brake. Pourcel took advantage and gained the lead with five laps to go while Coppins chased him to the flag to save second spot.

The second and deciding moto, saw Pourcel take control of the moto from the first lap. With Ramon and Coppins in tow, the French spectators were in for a great race. The trio matched each other lap after lap but with two laps to go Coppins made his move on Ramon as the Belgian started to tire. Pourcel held on for a clean sweep with Coppins finishing closely behind in second.

“I think I rode better this weekend than I have at all the other GP’s. I need to keep working with the team and the bike and focus on being even better at the next races. My time will come. I know that every single point counts so I have to fight and as you see today the championship is now wide open. To be sitting in this position after a bad start to the season is quite good and it can only get better from here. I think I picked a good time of the year to start to improve. I don’t need to think of the points but just want to focus race per race and try to be on the podium all the time.” Explained an elated Coppins.

With Coppins now down to 19 points from team-mate Philippaerts, who still leads, the Kiwi is confident that with the sand circuits that are still to come the championship is still up for grabs.

Round 8 will take place at the Talkessel circuit in Teutschenthal Germany in two weeks time.

Race results:

MX1 Race 1
1 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki
2 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha
3 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM
4 Leok, Tanel EST Kawasaki
5 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
6 de Dycker, Ken BEL Suzuki
7 Desalle, Clement BEL Suzuki
8 Nemeth, Kornel HUN KTM
9 Priem, Manuel BEL Kawasaki
10 Bill, Julien SUI Honda
11 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
12 Brown, Mike USA Honda
13 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
14 Vanni, Julien FRA KTM
15 Boniface, Steve FRA Yamaha

MX1 Race 2
1 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki
2 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha
3 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
4 de Reuver, Marc NED Honda
5 Boniface, Steve FRA Yamaha
6 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM
7 Bill, Julien SUI Honda
8 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
9 Noble, James GBR KTM
10 Brown, Mike USA Honda
11 de Dycker, Ken BEL Suzuki
12 Priem, Manuel BEL Kawasaki
13 Coulon, Cyrille FRA Yamaha
14 Anderson, Bradley GBR Suzuki
15 Desalle, Clement BEL Suzuki

MX1 World championship standings:
1 Philippaerts, D. ITA 231
2 Ramon, Steve BEL 225
3 Coppins, J. NZL 212
4 Pourcel, S. FRA 201
5 de Dycker, Ken BEL 200
6 Barragan, J. ESP 185
7 Nagl, M. GER 161
8 Mackenzie, B. GBR 159
9 de Reuver, M. NED 156
10 Leok, Tanel EST 151
11 Desalle, C. BEL 115
12 Brown, Mike USA 107
13 Priem, Manuel BEL 104
14 Nemeth, Kornel HUN 95
15 Bill, J. SUI 76