When Jay Wilson’s contract at Serco – Yamaha’s official factory MX2 team in Australia – wasn’t renewed for 2015, there was one person in particular, Josh Coppins, who believed in him and knew he had what it took to win championships. Fast-forward almost 12 months and Wilson has delivered the New Zealand supercross and motocross titles, and then last weekend the Australian MX Nationals crown as part of Coppins’ NZ-based JCR Yamaha team still on board a YZ250F. MotoOnline.com.au spoke to longtime world title threat and 2012 national MX1 champion Coppins about that achievement and what’s next for the JCR program.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Firstly Josh, congratulations on the championships with Jay Wilson both here in Australia and New Zealand. How does it feel to achieve such success as a team owner?

Its a great feeling; its been a very busy and hectic year, so to get the results makes it all worthwhile!

Can you compare the Australian MX2 title won by Jay on Sunday to your MX1 crown in 2012?

Yes, winning this Australian title with Jay is right up there with any titles I won as a racer. It’s different, but to be honest it feels like I worked a lot harder for Jay’s title than I did for any of mine – in some ways it’s an even better feeling.

You formed JCR Yamaha upon retirement and have had quite a lot of success in NZ since 2013. Tell us about the team and its structure over there.

It’s not like a Australian team. I only have one fulltime mechanic and he’s just a helper, not an actual mechanic. We use weekend guys to mechanic for the riders and I have a local mechanic who has a tuning shop called Moto-Tech do our engine and suspension, so we are basically like any customer but obviously we work very closely. I do a bit of everything. I deal with the sponsors and order all the product, I’m working on bikes from time to time, and even drive the truck. Ideally I’d like to focus on working with the riders and sponsors more, but it’s a small market with a small budget, so we have to make do and improvise occasionally. Everything is run from my place where the workshop is and we have three tracks there also.

During that period you’ve maintained ties with CDR Yamaha and Yamaha Motor Australia from what we understand. Is that still an ongoing relationship?

Yes, I work with CDR and Dacka closely. I have learnt a lot from Craig, he runs a great team, and I often ask him for advice. We also share an MX1 rider for the New Zealand Championship, which we will continue to do. I also do some work for Yamaha in Australia occasionally with testing parts, etc.

And what made you enter JCR in Australia for 2015 with Wilson on board? We’ve heard that deal will extend into supercross here for this year as well.

Jay was left without a ride for this season in Australia, but he had done so much for JCR in NZ. Mike Ward and I got talking – Mike prepped Jay’s bikes after work hours – and we managed to convince Ray Howard at Yamaha to help and it grew from there. It’s important to note that Jay also did a lot of work on his bike and worked with the sponsors, plus Jay’s brother Dee also helped out a lot after he recovered from his injury and Johnny Row filled in as Jays weekend mechanic. It really was a team effort; we all chipped in. Yes, things will roll on for SX, however I can’t attend each round like I did for MX as I have commitments in NZ.

Image: Jeff Crow.

After seeing Jay let go by Serco at the end of last year, only to rebound and win the title outside of a factory team, still on board a YZ250F through your program – that’s an incredible storyline in itself. You obviously saw what he was capable of and believed in him.

No doubt, I’ve had some great teammates and raced against some of the very best this sport has seen, yet I’ve seen Jay do things on a bike that I’ve never seen before – his skill-set is second to none. I never doubted he’d win this championship, he’s always been fast and good, it was just a matter of bringing that out of him a little more consistently. These days we are working with a new generation of riders and it’s important the people around them work hard Monday to Friday, not just on the weekends. You have to always progress and Jay thrived on that support and never doubted this team, so from there it was fun and from fun grew confidence and all of a sudden we were winning.

Looking ahead to the MXoN at Ernee, France, what can we expect from Jay over there on debut for Team Australia? Will you be in attendance with him?

Yes, I will be there with him and also Kayne Lamont who’s on Yamaha in MX2 for New Zealand. If Jay wasn’t in the top 10 of MX2 it would be a disappointing result, because personally I believe he can run up front, but it may be a bit too much to ask given it’s his first time in Europe with a different set-up.

And next year, will we see JCR continue in Australia alongside the NZ program?

No. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved this year, but all of my costs were funded from JCR’s New Zealand budget. There were some advantages as we could promote all year-round, however budget-wise it’s not smart. We did this year because we believed in Jay and he did a lot for JCR by winning three championships in two seasons in New Zealand, but it was a one-off to help him and move him on to the next chapter of his career.

Thank you once again for your time, it’s been really inspiring to watch you guys do what you have and great to have you here in Australia for the majority of the season this year. Well done.

No worries, thanks for your support.