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Josh Coppins and the other world motocross competitors have been rained out of the first day of their latest grand prix.
There are no qualifying sessions on Friday for this fourth round of the world champs at Genk in Belgium.
Suzuki 250 teamster Coppins and his fellow racers, including 125 protege Ben Townley, are expected to slosh their way around the circuit on Saturday.
This announcement from championship organisers Dorna Offroad:
The Motocross World Championship has been a victim of contrasting weather conditions so far in 2001 and the Grand Prix of Belgium has continued this trend.
Due to heavy rains and a sodden track in Genk, Friday\'s practice session was cancelled this morning. Track officials and Dorna off-road track staff made an inspection of the circuit\'s surface at 8am. FIM Race Director Dave Nicoll made the decision to cancel today\'s activity - this course of action was ratified by the International race jury in a meeting at 9am.
This means that the Championship has only had three days of motocross action at two of the four Grand Prix so far.
The opening round in Bellpuig, Spain, was greeted by sunshine and warm weather. The following event, on the sand of Valkenswaard in Holland, saw the first rainfall of the season and the also the first cancellation of the Friday practice period. The third Grand Prix in Australia blessed the championship with it\'s traditionally hot climate; and now the gloomy skies of Europe wreck havoc with the motocross schedule once again.
Nicoll insisted the action to cancel was purely in the long term interest of the meeting: \'We felt that erasing Friday\'s programme was a good decision. From our experience so far this year, with the weather and the subsequent measures that were taken, we didn\'t feel that it would be a problem. As we saw in Valkenswaard we can easily run the GP in two days. It\'s important at this stage to preserve the track as much as possible.\'
The new time-table for Saturday\'s programme of Belgian Grand Prix is as follows:
Saturday 28/04/2001:
08.30 - 08.50: 125cc Free Practice
09.00 - 09.20: 250cc Free Practice
09.30 - 09.50: 500cc Free Practice
10.20 - 10.40: 125cc Qualifying Practice
10.45 - 11.00: 125cc Free Start Practice
11.10 - 11.30: 250cc Free Practice
11.40 - 12.00: 500cc Free Practice
13.00: 125cc Qualifying race 1
14.00: 125cc Qualifying race 2
15.00 - 15.40: 250cc Qualifying Practice
16.10 - 16.50: 500cc Qualifying Practice
17.10: 125cc Last chance race (15 minutes + 2 laps)
