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New Zealand\'s top motorcycle racer Josh Coppins is training in France this week as he prepares to start his 2001 international programme with a warm-up race next weekend.
The traditional Saint Lo motocross gives the world\'s leading riders a chance to gauge their own form a month out from the start of the world championships - and to assess their rivals.
Motueka-born Coppins is one the competitors and fans will be watching after his steady climb through the ranks to claim fourth last year in the prestige 250 class.
\"I\'ve been able to improve my world placing every year since I came here six years ago,\" said the 23-year-old expat Kiwi. \"Now it\'s time to push on for the world title.
\"I\'m really happy with the way my preparation has gone and I\'m getting close to where I need to be for the first round in Spain next month.
\"I had a couple of good rides in New Zealand over Christmas and now this French event lets me have a look at how the other guys are going.\"
Coppins, winner of the New Zealand 125 and 250 Grand Prix titles last month, is reunited with Kiwi mechanic Blair Selfe as their top-rated Suzuki factory squad gathers in the south of France where Coppins and his French teammate Mickael Pichon can hunt out dry tracks on which to train.
\"The weather\'s still pretty bad in the north so we don\'t go up to the team base in Belgium just yet,\" Coppins commented.
The Saint Lo event is on Sunday 25. The world championship starting near Madrid on 18 March covers 15 rounds to September.
