It was never going to be a comeback – Josh Coppins had made that quite clear before the event – but the Yamaha ace certainly proved he had not forgotten how to win races since he retired from fulltime motocross racing at the end of last season.

Current Australian MX1 champion Coppins took one of the JCR Yamaha Racing Team YZ450F bikes and demolished the MX1 class at the big 30th anniversary Michael Godfrey Memorial Motocross at Waipara, north of Christchurch, at the weekend.

He said it was just to keep the seat warm while the team’s regular MX1 class riders, Scotsman Billy MacKenzie, was otherwise occupied with racing in Australia, but Coppins enjoyed the brief ‘comeback’ ride nonetheless.

Coppins won four out of five MX1 races, opting to ease up a little for the fifth race and settling for a fourth for that outing as he strived to conserve energy ahead of the weekend’s feature race.

That gesture proved to be in vain, however, as Coppins was the victim of a shunt from behind at the start of the feature race, the accident damaging his bike and forcing him to withdraw.

“The weekend was not too bad for me considering I hadn’t done much preparation,” said the 36-year-old former world No.2.

“Speed was not an issue for me, just fitness. I felt I could pass the other riders with ease. It’s a pity I was taken down in the feature race but that’s racing sometimes.

“I really enjoyed myself, although it wasn’t really about me. I only stepped in to make sure we had a presence with both Scotty (Columb) and Billy (MacKenzie) unavailable. My main job is to focus on managing the team, not racing any more these days.”

It was also an outstanding weekend from fellow Yamaha rider Ethan Martens, the Waitakere man racing a YZ450F to fifth overall in the MX1 class and also riding a Yamaha YZ250 to win MX2 class outright.

The 21-year-old Martens also finished third in the feature final race, behind MX1 regulars Justin McDonald (Honda CRF450), of Christchurch, and Michael Phillips (Honda CRF450), of Rotorua.

“The feature race was the first time I really put the hammer down on the 450cc bike,” said Martens. “I was riding two classes all weekend, so I was using a lot of energy but I decided to cut loose a bit for the last race and I seemed to go pretty good.”

The JCR Yamaha Racing team is supported by Yamaha Motor New Zealand, Yamalube, GYTR, Josh Coppins Racing, Yamaha Motor Finance, Star Moving, Holland’s Collision Centre, Fox, Alpinestars, Atlas, POD, Racetech Plastics, Renthal, DID, NGK, Pirelli, Motomuck, ilabb, Factory Effex, Boyesen, Pro Circuit and Matrix.

Leading results from the 30th anniversary Michael Godfrey Memorial Motocross:

MX1 Overall:

1st Josh Coppins 118

2nd Justin McDonald 107

3rd Hamish Harwood 100

4th Michael Phillips 100

5th Ethan Martens 79

6th Jesse Donnelly

7th Andy Blanchard

8th Nick Warren

9th Michael Dunn

10th Hamish Sword

MX2 Overall:

1st Ethan Martens 120

2nd Micah McGoldrick 113

3rd Campbell King 98

4th Scotty Canham 82

5th Hayden Wilkinson 79

6th Nathan Clare

7th Cameron Vaughan

8th Connor McCormick

9th Dylan Miles

10th Isaiah McGoldrick

Senior Feature Race:

1st Justin McDonald

2nd Michael Phillips

3rd Ethan Martens

4th Hamish Harwood

5th Campbell King

6th Scotty Canham

7th Micah McGoldrick

8th Cameron Vaughan

9th Andy Blanchard

10th Hayden Wilkinson

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com