Back in 2005, we ventured to the beautiful area of Sun City in South Africa and for many, it was a brilliant experience. Of course, for New Zealander, Josh Coppins, the weekend saw a somewhat surprising victory. Lets take you back, 21 years to this stunning GP, as we prepare to return to South Africa this week.

Geoff Meyer photos

Coppins and Italian David Philippaerts notched up their second overall victories for the season at round 11 of the FIM World Motocross championship at Sun City South, South Africa on Sunday, Jul-17, 2025.

18,000 fans witnessed some of the closest racing of the year as the riders made a return visit to South Africa after it was added to the calendar in 2004. In the MX1 class it was truly a case of 'it isn’t over until the fat lady has sung' as Coppins took the win after defending World Champion Stefan Everts fell whilst in the lead on the final lap, at that stage the Factory Yamaha rider had the win sewn up as he had placed second in the opening moto behind Coppins.

"I was pretty lucky today!" said Coppins. "Of course, always good to win but I never expected to win like that not so nice to win. It is better to win because you are the best. I was the best in the first race but got a lot of cramp in the second race. My speed was good, but I was struggling with cramp. I want to show Stefan that I want to race for the championship. Even though he has a big lead we have seen him make mistakes, more this year than ever before and we saw this in the last lap. This is the time to push on and make as many points as possible. Beating Stefan in the first heat has been the best race of my career."

Understandably Everts was not to amused with his final lap effort. "I am really unhappy with this", he stated. "I made a stupid crash on the last lap and had a problem with the front brake. I had beaten Josh and I deserved the victory today. In the first moto I had more problems with the lappers - they seem to be a hassle at every GP - but Josh rode really well. I hope that I can win in Belgium because I wanted it really badly here." the Belgian superstar added.

Whilst the MX1 had two clear cut front runners, the final place on the podium was also an open and shut case with Belgian Steve Ramon taking his KTM to two third places and his first podium of the year. Jonathan Barragan put in his best performance of the year when the KTM mounted Spaniard took fourth overall ahead of Suzuki factory veteran Joel Smets.

The previous rounds runner up Ben Townley crashed in both heats finishing a disappointing fourth and seventeenth, the 2004 MX2 World Champion left South Africa with a damaged little finger on his right hand as a result.

The MX2 motos also had plenty of action and two different winners. Moto 1 saw Frenchman Anthony Boissiere take his second win since his home GP in France, but he had a tough fight with David Philippaerts for the win. Despite a bad start Philippaerts took the lead on lap thirteen but Boissiere never gave up and again fronted the pack five laps later to win the race. After missing the jump at the gate and rounding the first lap of moto 2 in ninth, Philippaerts rallied strongly again and made his presence felt by the seventh lap and despite the assaults of Yamaha's Antonio Cairoli he celebrated his second heat and GP win.

Two third places saw Brit Billy Mackenzie take his first podium since Japan with second position overall, while Antonio Cairoli stole the third overall from Alessio Chiodi. Despite a collision with Cedric Melotte halfway round the first lap of moto 1 Cairoli scored one more point than World Championship leader Andrew McFarlane, who crashed while leading the same heat.

"I'm usually not so strong in these conditions, but I won in France and here so maybe I also like this track now!" Philippaerts said. "It's my fifth podium in a row with the 250 KTM, my goal is to get the best results each weekend and to improve my classification in the championship. I confirm that next year I will stay with KTM, they offered me a strong support this season and I'm happy with this decision."

For championship leader, the now late Andrew McFarlane the day was a bit of a disappointment, but he only dropped 1 point of his championship lead.

"Today was a bit of a disappointment and I'm not so happy." an unhappy McFarlane said. "In the first moto I felt really good and fast but then made a small mistake in the combination section and that put me on the ground. I got back up and fought really hard. I definitely have the speed and the fitness. I was closing on Chicco, but we came up on a backmarker, and he more or less took my line and the front end went away. I hurt my hand slightly and it bothered me in the second moto. I started badly and was nearly last in the next race. I tried really hard to fight back for the whole duration but got stuck behind Swanepoel. Once I overtook him, I again felt good, my fitness was fine and the bike was working really well. In the first race I made three points on Cairoli but then lost it again in the second one. I feel strong and confident at the moment. We have a weekend off to recuperate and get some more training done." he concluded.