Coppins wins on British Championship return.

Defending Champion Josh Coppins returned to torment his rivals in the MX1 Maxxis British Motocross Championship by winning both races at Polesworth for the second round of the 2005 series on Sunday.

The CAS Honda rider completed a first successful outing of the season after missing the opening event two weeks ago because of a dislocated shoulder. A moderate crowd braved low temperatures, light drizzle and grey skies in what was already a late venue change for the second test of eight in the 2005 competition.

The Maxxis-backed contest is recognised as one of the best national motocross Championships in Europe and proved its billing again today with some first class racing by a host of riders expected to challenge for top places at Zolder in Belgium next weekend for the Grand Prix of Flanders; the first race of the FIM World Championships.

Although the highest step of the podium for MX1 was rarely beyond doubt with Coppins hole-shotting and dominating both 30 minute and 2 lap motos, the tussle for podium positions was interesting.

Coppins' Finnish Honda team-mate Jussi Vehvilainen pushed the reigning champ to the flag in the first sprint and engaged in a similarly close encounter in the next race for runner-up position with Yamaha's Gordon Crockard, narrowly beating the Irishman after slipping past on the last lap.

"Today went pretty good for me," said Coppins. "I had two good starts and to go 1-2 overall is a great result for the team. I still need more time on the bike because of my shoulder. This is only my second race of the year and all things considered I am happy with my speed and condition."

"It was a hard race today. Josh was fast and Gordon also had some good pace," added Vehvilainen. "It was difficult to pass on this track but I squeezed past Gordon at the end and it was enough. I am feeling good at the moment and of course this was a decent result for the team today."

Crockard was content to register his first top three appearance of the year after a crash earlier in the day had produced his second DNF in two meetings.

Winner at Canada Heights for the 2005 season curtain-raiser Paul Cooper scored third and fifth places finishes this afternoon to ensure that the veteran still leads the MX1 Championship by 2 points over Vehvilainen.

Thanks to his fresh 60 point haul Coppins now sits 6th in the standings. James Noble consolidated third spot (just ten points behind Cooper) after two solid rides to fourth position.

It was also an eventful day's racing in the MX2 class. The mix of 250cc four-stroke and 125cc two-stroke motorcycles divulged two winners in the forms of factory KTM rider Carl Nunn (enjoying a confident debut performance on the Austrian firm's 250F, the machine that won the 2004 MX2 World Championship) and Yamaha's Billy Mackenzie, who erased painful recollections of Polesworth as the track where he lost the 125cc Championship on the last lap of the final race of the series two years ago.

As ever with the youthful category the action was hot and Nunn was shadowed closely by Tom Church in the first moto, with Erik Eggens taking third in front of Mackenzie. Canada Heights winner Mike Brown suffered a crash and broken throttle and was forced to pull out.

It was not to be the former American Champion's afternoon as he stalled his 250F Honda in the start gate for the second moto, although he then provided one of the main focuses of the race as he charged back from dead-last to eventually claim 6th by the chequered flag.

Meanwhile Nunn, flying into an early lead, made a mistake on the whoops section that cut his nine second margin over Mackenzie and Church down to zero. Mackenzie seized the bait and in an aggressive move, that actually put Nunn briefly on the ground, gained control of the moto to win.

Church was far enough ahead of Nunn's KTM to score his second runner-up placing of the afternoon, while Eggens had seen any chance of a second podium disappear when he fell on the same corner as Nunn several laps previously.

"After leading and getting passed at Canada Heights there was no way the same thing was going to happen today," said Nunn, who took the overall by one point from Church and now holds a 9 point advantage over his Kawasaki rival in the early title pursuit. "I had some arm pump in that first race but I was determine not to lose the lead. I could not relax out there because Tom was pushing me hard.

"In the second race I made a silly mistake on the whoops and that gave the other two a second wind. It was also hard for me to immediately get going. Billy and I clashed together and I went down. I am not happy about it but sometimes these things happen in racing," he stated. "Overall the day was great. I am really happy with the bike and the team have done so much for me."

"Things are going well this year. I wanted to get my speed and confidence back and I'm pleased with how it is working out," commented Church after his 2-2 finish. "I love this track and have had some good results before. In the second moto I ran out of steam slightly but I have been suffering with flu this week. The plan is coming along; I was looking for top five in Canada Heights, top three here and the win at round three."

"I am feeling confident with my riding," stated third overall Mackenzie. "I have been practicing a lot and the bike is great, the suspension is working really well. I have some bad memories of Polesworth but I always like to be positive so I am glad to win. I know I can run with the rest of these guys and I proved it today."

The next round of the Maxxis British Championships will be at Lyng, Norfolk, in two weeks time.

Results - MX1 Moto 1:
1 Josh Coppins
2 Jussi Vehvilainen +2.477
3 Paul Cooper +26.229
4 James Noble +34.924
5 Yoshitaka Atsuta +49.262
6 Neville Bradshaw +1:06.944
7 Mark Jones +1:22.242
8 Alex Rach +1:37.392
9 Mark Hucklebridge +1:51.422
10 Jody Smyth +1:52.526
11 David Campbell +1:55.276
12 Bryan MacKenzie 1 Lap
13 Christian Burnham +1.778
14 Ben Taylor +5.293
15 Martin Barr +6.875
16 Jason Higgs +14.355
17 David Williams +29.447
18 Toomas Triisa +42.700
19 Ben Lambert-Williams +51.908
20 Jeff Perrett +56.016
Results - MX1 Moto 2:
1 Josh Coppins -
2 Jussi Vehvilainen +2.627
3 Gordon Crockard +4.689
4 James Noble +8.987
5 Paul Cooper +12.940
6 Mark Jones +50.380
7 Neville Bradshaw +1:01.844
8 Glen Phillips +1:06.926
9 Jordan Rose +1:08.679
10 Yoshitaka Atsuta +1:09.379
11 Alex Rach +1:40.080
12 Stuart Flockhart +1:56.014
13 Jody Smyth +2:05.282
14 Ben Taylor +2:24.412
15 Bryan MacKenzie 1 Lap
16 David Williams +25.638
17 Toomas Triisa +28.058
18 David Campbell +29.910
19 Ben Lambert-Williams +41.647
20 Martin Barr +54.436
MX1 Championship points:
1 Paul Cooper 106
2 Jussi Vehvilainen 104
3 James Noble 96
4 Yoshitaka Atsuta 82
5 Neville Bradshaw 78
6 Josh Coppins 60
7 Mark Jones 49
8 Mark Hucklebridge 47
9 Glen Phillips 45
10 Gordon Crockard 40

Results - MX2 Moto 1:
1 Carl Nunn
2 Tom Church +1.429
3 Eric Eggens +22.233
4 Billy MacKenzie +42.401
5 Wayne Smith +45.923
6 Tommy Searle +1:12.847
7 Brad Anderson +1:17.304
8 David Willett +1:20.303
9 Ben Saunders +1:23.951
10 Shaun Simpson +1:27.637
11 Jim Murro +1:45.275
12 Lewis Gregory +1:49.772
13 Marcus Norlen +1:55.030
14 Jamie Lewis 1 Lap
15 Alex Butler +0.735
16 John May +3.911
17 Phil Mercer +13.106
18 Sean Frayne +14.845
19 Craig Cook +17.716
20 Ray Rowson +21.050
Results - MX2 Moto 2:
1 Billy MacKenzie
2 Tom Church +9.309
3 Carl Nunn +14.300
4 Wayne Smith +32.641
5 Brad Anderson +37.361
6 Mike Brown +38.969
7 Tommy Searle +1:05.798
8 Jason Dougan +1:11.407
9 Eric Eggens +1:17.158
10 Marcus Norlen +1:21.759
11 Jim Murro +1:27.828
12 Shaun Simpson +1:28.454
13 Jamie Lewis +1:48.148
14 Graeme Gowland +1:50.956
15 Ben Saunders +1:57.666
16 Richard Lawson +2:01.017
17 John May +2:03.129
18 Jamie Smith +2:16.322
19 Alex Butler 1 Lap
20 David Willett +1.661 1

MX2 Championship points:
1 Carl Nunn 109
2 Tom Church 100
3 Wayne Smith 88
4 Billy MacKenzie 80
5 Eric Eggens 80
6 Brad Anderson 74
7 Tommy Searle 62
8 Stephen Sword 55
9 Mike Brown 49
10 Lewis Gregory 37