Motorsport: Taupo hits MX centre stage

MX-1 star Josh Coppins is a definite starter for the November international.

The world champions are coming, ensuring motorcycling eyes will be on Taupo.

The Taupo Motorcycle Club is to stage two world-class events with a stand-alone international motocross later this year and then a world championship event in 2009.

Following on from the successful hosting of the International Six Days Enduro and International Motocross in November 2006, the club has now gone two steps further with the staging of the Taupo International Motocross 2008 on November 1-2 and the 2009 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship on August 15-16, 2009.

Senior MX1 world championship frontrunner Josh Coppins is a confirmed starter for the November international and a flood of rising European and American stars are expected for the 2009 event.

It is likely the Yamaha factory star will be world champion before November's big event, making it the second time that the world's No 1 rider will race on the Digger McEwen Motocross Track. Ten-time world champion Stefan Everts raced there in 2006.

Coppins is the favourite to win the MX1 world title this season. A runaway championship leader last season, he injured himself and had to watch as his big lead evaporated.

The Taupo club is negotiating with American, European and Australian motocross riders to race here in November. "Names will be released as we get confirmation," said club president Geoff Hall.

"It is exciting for the club and for New Zealand as a whole. After the outstanding success of our international motocross in 2006, it is expected that this year's event will be even bigger and better. It's awesome for the club and for New Zealand too.

'With the region hosting a world championship event in 2009, it puts us on the world stage. I'm thrilled we have won recognition as a club that can stage a world championship event."

The international motocross in 2006 attracted a crowd of about 10,000 and it promises to be a magnet again.