Coppins And Rattray Lead The Group To Sweden For Second Half Of 2008 Season

FUNCHAL (PORTUGAL), 2 July 2008 – What that has been a very interesting FIM Motocross World Championship so far will enter into the final seven round stage this weekend in Uddevalla, marking the ninth of 15 meetings.

Yamaha leads the MX1 standings with red plate holder David Philippaerts and German GP winner Joshua Coppins while KTM is holding the top two MX2 spots with leader Tyla Rattray and fellow team mate Tommy Searle, who won his maiden moto at Uddevalla last year.


MX1

First the second podium position in France then the double victory in Germany have marked Joshua Coppins’ comeback to the business. The Yamaha Monster Motocross racer moved up to second in the Championship and now looks like the biggest threat for team mate David Philippaerts.

Josh Coppins celebrated his first win of 2008 in Germany last weekend.

The Italian crashed out in France, with the fall cracking the last of his right ribs, and the German weekend was a tough one for the current Championship leader. Though Philippaerts hopes to be in better shape for the forthcoming ninth GP.

World MX1 Champion Steve Ramon of Teka Suzuki WMX1 sits third in the Championship and continues scoring important points at every round, while team mate Ken de Dycker mounted on the podium last weekend. The early Championship leader is fourth in the standings, 26 points away from the top, and he has positive memories about Uddevalla, where he won his maiden MX1 GP in 2007.

Ken de Dycker is fourth in the MX1 series.

Sebastien Pourcel and Jonathan Barragan round off the top six after a difficult Grand Prix in Teutschenthal while Tanel Leok is now up in seventh courtesy of his first season’s podium at the German venue. The Estonian Express was third also on the Swedish podium in 2007.

A strong Tanel Leok was back on the podium at Teutschenthal.

Entering the CAS Honda Team for his first time at Teutschenthal, Steve Boniface will try to make up for the bitter result of Germany this weekend in Uddevalla.


MX2

With Sweden being the only round left before the overseas event in South Africa at Nelspruit, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tyla Rattray will do his very best this weekend to arrive home with the red plate, which he conquered courtesy of a hard fought victory in Germany.

Tyla Rattray leads the MX2 standings from Searle and Cairoli.

The latest Grand Prix was a low point for team mate and previous red plate holder Tommy Searle, who missed his sixth potential podium and is now second in the Championship, sandwiched in between Rattray and third placed Tony Cairoli.

The defending MX2 Champion of Yamaha Red Bull De Carli completes a very close top three; thanks to his fifth podium of the season in Germany, Cairoli shortened up the gap from the top to 16 points and he is only five points behind Searle.

This is still a long Championship and consistency comes first for Tony Cairoli.

KTM fellow riders Shaun Simpson and Rui Goncalves complete the top five; the latter performed two storming starts in Teutschenthal and even battled it out for the win with Cairoli in his qualifying heat, ending an eventual second. Last year in Uddevalla a technical problem stopped the Portuguese in the chase to his maiden podium as he was virtually third overall when he pulled out of heat two.

CLS’ Steven Frossard did take his maiden podium with third overall in last weekend’s German GP; it was the second consecutive time that a Frenchman rounded off the podium since other young gun Anthony Boissiere ended third overall in St. Jean. The two are 11th and 12th in the MX2 Championship ahead of countrymen Marvin Musquin and Jeremy Tarroux.

Steven Frossard and Anthony Boissiere are two of the best French hopefuls.

GLIMMINGE MOTORSTADION AND UDDEVALLA

The Swedish course in Uddevalla is located in a beautiful natural rocky valley, where the rocks become a fantastic spot for the many spectators attending the Grand Prix every year. The ground compost is intermediate while the track’s layout is technical and quick. At last year’s dry Grand Prix, De Dycker won the overall MX1 class and Cairoli the MX2.

An overall view on the Swedish race track in Uddevalla.

Uddevalla is located in the province of Bohuslän, between Gothenburg and Oslo. The city has about 50000 inhabitants and its active port makes it one of the most important industrial cities on the West coast of Sweden. Gustafsberg is one of the top items in the to do list, as it is Europe's oldest seaside health resort –dating at the 18th century- and it is just South of Uddevalla.


THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE

Saturday July 5: MX2 Free Practice at 10:00 am; MX1 Free Practice 1 at 11:00 am; MX2 Pre-Qualifying Practice at 12:00 am; MX1 Free Practice 2 at 2:00 pm; MX2 Qualifying Race 1 at 3:00 pm; MX2 Qualifying Race 2 at 3:45 pm; MX1 Time Practice at 4:30 pm; MX2 Last Chance Qualifying Practice at 5:15 pm (local time).


Sunday July 6: MX2 Warm-up at 9:00 am; MX1 Warm-up at 9:30 am; MX2 Grand Prix Race 1 at 12:10 am; MX1 Grand Prix Race 1 at 1:10 pm; MX2 Grand Prix Race 2 at 3:03 pm; MX1 Grand Prix Race 2 at 4:03 pm (local time).

LINKS

Youthstream
FIM
SVEMO-Svenska Motorcykel-och Snöskoterförbundet
BMK UDDEVALLA and Glimminge Motorstadion
Uddevalla

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