Yamaha wins in MX1 but looses grip on championship at British GP -ozzy go- yamaharacing.com

Yamaha Motocross Team’s Josh Coppins made a brave comeback
to the FIM Motocross World Championship despite sustaining a
two inch break to his left shoulder only four weeks ago but could
not prevent his lead in the standings being lost to rival Steve
Ramon. Meanwhile MX1 debutant Antonio Cairoli marked a new
highlight in a truly wonderful season of success as the MX2 world
champ won his first ever outing in the premier class with a 2008
production YZ450F in front of 28,000 spectators.

Coppins was back in action for the first time in two Grand Prix but
completed few fast laps and took things easy on Saturday. The
New Zealander commented that he was fighting pain in the joint
but had medical attention and took to the line on Sunday to
attempt to defend the 12 points he held in defiance of Ramon.
The many jumps and rough ruts of the track were not ideal for
the Kiwi.

The first moto at the new track inside the Donington Park MotoGP
complex started perfectly as the 30 year old holeshotted on the
YZ450FM. However he was unable to keep pace with the leaders
and tried his best to remain as high in the classification as
possible but was swamped by a group in the final laps and took
fourteenth.

With the gap down from 12 to 4 points for the second race,
Coppins tried again to fight his corner but had to pull into the pits
after one lap as the former championship runner-up had no
strength in his upper limb and could not control the bike properly.

His eighteenth position overall means that he lost the red plate for
the first time this year to Ramon and now faces a tough job at
Lierop to regain his status. The deserving champion and winner of
five Grand Prix this year will need to obtain 14 points or more
over Ramon (who is racing with a small fracture in his scaphoid)
to claim his first world title.

2007 MX2 World Champion Antonio Cairoli could not have done
a better job in the MX1 class to give Coppins support and also
assist Yamaha’s effort to retain the manufacturer’s title. The
Italian admitted that riding the production 2008 YZ450F after
steering his YZ250F to nine Grand Prix victories this year was
‘different’ and placed more... click on ozzy go to the full story