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Yamaha Racing
The 2009 FIM MX1-GP Motocross World Championship has reached its conclusion with the Grand Prix of Brazil and Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team’s Josh Coppins signed off a decent three year association with the squad by taking 4th position at a hot and humid Canelinha for the fifteenth and final meeting of the series. Four YZ450Fs finished in the top ten of the Grand Prix standings, more than any other manufacturer but Yamaha was denied a 100% podium record for ‘09 at the bumpy and physically demanding new circuit.
The venue, packed on both days and with a final attendance figure of 60,000, had undergone a major facelift for its inauguration as world championship host and the narrow and jump-laden course, over 80km north-west of the resort of Florianopolis, was an impressive sight. The many grandstands were full for Sunday after a shaky start to the weekend in which constant rainfall on Saturday caused the practice and qualification schedule to be scrapped in the interest of preserving the terrain. Thankfully dark skies were replaced for race-day.
Coppins was the top performer on the day and the Kiwi rode to 5th and 3rd positions on his last GP bow with the black factory YZ450FM. The 32 year old’s hard charge and duel with eventual winner Clement Desalle for second place in the second moto was entertaining and the Bulgarian grand prix winner pushed the young Belgian, 12 years his junior, all the way to the finish line; just missing a clear opportunity to overtake.
In 6th place overall was team-mate David Philippaerts. The Italian was quick and strong across the layout and despite two mediocre starts pushed his way into the top three in both motos. After an encouraging 3rd in Moto1 he was chasing Desalle for another third position in the second race when a mistake on an uphill wave section saw him crash and lose time in restarting. Even though the 25 year old recovered to 7th spot he was disappointed to be overhauled by Desalle in the final standings and ends 2009 with 4th instead of 3rd in the championship.
Yamaha Red Bull De Carli’s Tony Cairoli, the new world champion and the most successful motocrosser from Italy, was 9th overall. The Sicilian underwent minor surgery to tidy up broken pieces of his left meniscus last week and also travelled to Brazil after appearing as a guest of the Fiat Yamaha team at Misano for the thirteenth round of the MotoGP series, in which he was celebrated and revered by fans indicating the growing status of the sport in this particular zone of Europe. Cairoli was hindered in Brazil by the weakness of his knee (that still had stitches) and also by a rider falling in front of him at the start of the second moto. The champion was 6th and 12th, the first race allowing a better performance, and now has three weeks to get fully fit for his Motocross of Nations appearance.
Team-mate Tanel Leok was also completing his world championship term as a Yamaha Red Bull De Carli rider. The Estonian will represent his country at the Nations in two weeks for his last appearance on the YZ450F but the 2009 Italian Champion took 14th overall in Brazil with 8th place in the first moto and then a DNF in the second due to a severe headache.
A worthy mention must go to Yamaha Van Beers Carlos Campano. The Spaniard registered his finest ever result in the MX1-GP division thanks to 7th overall; the third best Yamaha rider. The former national champion reached a career high of 6th to go with his 11th from Moto1 to leave Canelinha satisfied with his efforts.
2009 has been a sterling year for Yamaha in the premier class of the FIM series. The YZ450F has been present on fourteen of fifteen world championship podiums. Between the four riders of the Yamaha Red Bull De Carli squad and the Yamaha Monster Energy MX team 7 GP victories have been celebrated with a total of 19 pieces of silverware collected. 11 motos have been won, with Cairoli naturally leading the statistics in his maiden MX1-GP season with 9 chequered flags. Yamaha are 2009 Manufacturer’s champions and conclude the Rider’s competition with their four protagonists in the top seven positions; Cairoli 1st, Philippaerts 4th, Coppins 6th and Leok 7th.
The world championship might be over for 2009 but the traditional curtain-closer to the motocross calendar will take place at Franciacorta in Italy for the 63rd Nations in three weeks. Yamaha will see Cairoli, Philippaerts and Davide Guarneri line-up in a formidable team for the hosts, while other riders such as Zach Osborne, Nico Aubin, Leok and Coppins will also be in action.
