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 series today.

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. 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.

The Polesworth circuit, located near Tamworth, substituted at late notice for the Pontrilas venue that was ruled out by poor weather in Herefordshire. The midlands track became a rough and challenging prospect for the riders as the proceedings wore on.

It was 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 MX2 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 for the second consecutive moto.

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 provided one of the main focuses of the race as he charged back from dead-last to eventually claim 6th by the chequered flag.

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 the KTM rider to score his second runner-up placing of the afternoon. Eggens had seen any chance of a second podium disappear when he fell on the same corner as Nunn several laps previously.

The second moto had to be re-started after Luke Mellows fell ten minutes into the duration and needed medical attention on the track.

Nunn, scooping the overall triumph by one point from Church, now holds a 9 point advantage over his Kawasaki rival in the early title pursuit.

The next round of the Maxxis British Championships follows hard upon with Lyng (Norfolk) hosting the third stop in two weeks time.

Josh Coppins, MX1 1st and 1st: “Today went pretty good for me. 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.”

Jussi Vehvilainen, MX1 2nd and 2nd: “It was a hard race today. Josh was fast and Gordon also had some good pace. 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.”

Carl Nunn, MX2 1st and 3rd: “After leading and getting passed at Canada Heights there was no way the same thing was going to happen today. 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. Overall the day was great. I am really happy with the bike and the team have done so much for me.”

Tom Church, MX2 2nd and 2nd: “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. 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.”

Billy Mackenzie MX2 4th and 1st – Race One - “Overall I am very happy with the day, I have moved from 9th place to 4th place in the championship, naturally when you haven’t been riding and training as you should, like me, you are bound to struggle with arm pump even if you have the speed. We had to suspension set a wee bit too soft but I knew when we had changed the settings for race two a good result was in the bag. I was running up front for a good part of the race but had to back off due to the arm pump, with more time on the bike I would have been fighting for the win but I have to use my head and look at two good consistent rides each week now and go for a good overall result.” – Race Two - “I was leading the race when it was red flagged, I knew I had used a lot of energy fight my way through in race one, my starts haven’t been the best, I couldn’t get the jump from the gate just riding through it instead, a would go outside and riders were coming up the inside, I was so close to coming off a couple of times at the first turn, but I got round safely in the end. Carl (Nunn) and I were running qualifying times for nearly the whole race, I knew that I didn’t want to run that speed for the whole race, I slipped back at the beginning but wound myself up and passed Church to close right up on Carl. The track here is demanding, I knew I was feeling tired and getting out of breath, I am sure Carl was feeling the same, he wasn’t going to give up so nor was I. He fell off but got going again before I could get to him, I closed the gap and then we touched going into a turn, I had the inside, neither of us was going to close the throttle, we touched and he stalled the bike, I am glad he didn’t fall, I don’t like that but we are racing here and I think it was a fair pass. We talked later, he was not impressed but I offered to shake his hand, I don’t want any bad feeling I have had all that crap with Swordy in the past. I was happy to take the win.”

Gordon Crockard – Race One - “I was trying to leave getting back on a bike until the very last minute, to get as much rest as possible for my ankle, I have been wearing an air cast which has been a great support and kept my ankle rigid, helping the healing process. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to train, ride the bike or test and this all came at a time which I had allocated for testing and making final preparation to the race machine settings. I didn’t get the best of starts in race one, that was really the start of all my problems, I was pushing hard to come through, fought my way up but misjudged a jump and crashed hard, banged my head, cut my fingers and destroyed the bike, it was so bad it was impossible to ride so I knew I would have to ride the spare bike in race two.” - Race Two - “Better start in race two, I was hanging up front with the fast guys, Josh was leading I got myself into second position, Jussi was fighting for the entire race to get by me, he never really gave in and it got to the stage where I was starting to make mistakes because of my lack of bike fitness, I was getting tired and my technique went out of the window. I tried to regroup but I had been defending for such a long time, Jussi eventually got me on the very last lap. I can’t and don’t want to make excuses, the lapped riders didn’t help, you are always going to have that problems racing at the speeds we were. I finished 3rd which was ok all things considering, but I would really like to time to prepare myself during the week and come feeling ready to race rather than turning up here just hoping to get the best result that I can.