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Disaster for Kiwi-born motocross ace Josh Coppins on night two of the Paris Bercy supercross event.
The 23-year-old crashed out of the evening\'s racing when a slower rider fell in front of him.
\"I had nowhere to go, his bike was right in front of me when I came over a jump,\" said the Suzuki Corona star who finished fourth in this year\'s prestigious outdoor motocross world championship and is in the same position in the arena-based world supercross champs.
This Bercy event is not part of that world championship but the man from Motueka was using it to prepare for next month\'s final round.
\"It\'s no big deal to miss a night, no important title hangs on it and that\'s what supercross is all about really ... but I\'m annoyed to go out through a silly thing when I\'ve been improving,\" Coppins said from Paris.
The multi New Zealand champion had a mediocre opener on Friday night while he adjusted new suspension.
Snappy pit work from mechanic Blair Selfe of Oamaru plus the Kayaba factory suspension technicians saw the Suzuki RM250 in competitive form for Saturday.
\"It was in my early heat and I was in a handy qualifying position when I crashed,\" said Coppins.
\"I fell away from my bike and went head-first into the other guy\'s bike.
\"My helmet saved that but I was winded and couldn\'t carry on.\"
Coppins plans to be back in action for Sunday\'s final evening of racing but he is now well out of contention for the King of Bercy crown which seems destined to be worn by US-based Frenchman David Vuillemin.
It was a bad day for the Kiwis. Another expat Daryl Atkins was carried away on a stretcher with a back injury after a heavy fall in afternoon practice.
The injury was first thought to be serious but further examination cleared the Belgian-based veteran to race again soon.
