Josh Coppins has taken his first grand prix victory of the 2008 MX1 Motocross World Championship season in Sunday's Grand Prix of Germany at Teutschenthal.
The Kiwi's perfect 1-1 moto sweep has moved him to within four points of Monster Yamaha team-mate David Philippaerts at the halfway mark of the season.
Injured CAS Honda rider Billy Mackenzie took the early lead in moto one ahead of KTM's home star Max Nagl, but Coppins soon moved past them both with Suzuki's reigning world champion Steve Ramon rising to second ahead of Philippaerts by the chequered flag.
The second moto saw fitness play a big role on the rough and demanding track. Coppins once again got a good jump out the gate but lost out in the second turn to Mackenzie and Kawasaki's Sebastien Pourcel.
The Frenchman later went down after contact with Mackenzie, but Coppins found a safe path past the Scotsman and rode to an eight second victory over pole sitter Ken de Dycker, with Tanel Leok third for Kawasaki. Philippaerts, riding with rib injuries, was sixth.
"Obviously the results at the start of the season were not what I expected or what the team expected but we knuckled down and worked even harder and knew that the results would come," said Josh. "The step for me never came in the races but in my training, working with my mechanic, riding on the right tracks and working on the bike. Even though the result in
Mallory Park was not good on paper, I felt there that my riding was improving and that with the hard work we were putting in that it would bring us to the top step of the podium."
Ramon fell on the first lap of the second moto, the Belgian losing control on the wet race of a jump - with his bike hit by several following riders. Steve remounted but could only manage 18th position and has dropped from second to third in the standings.
In the MX2 class, Tyla Rattray has regained the red plate from KTM team-mate Tommy Searle after 2-1 moto finishes on Sunday.
