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Another disappointment for Josh Coppins in American supercross.
For the second consecutive race the European-based New Zealand motocross ace has been crashed out by another rider on the first lap and left floundering to make up places in a high-profile final.
This time the plucky 24-year-old wrestled his Berni Honda CR125 back to 18th place, 49 seconds off the lead of the highly-promoted stadium event at Anaheim, Los Angeles.
“It’s the way it goes in American supercross,” commented the star of the European-domiciled world championships.
“There’s a lot of luck in these tight fields, with the track being so narrow and everyone tucked together on the first lap.
“This time I just flew into the sandtrap and got caught up with a rider crashing in front of me, then another guy rear-ended me.
“By the time I got up and going I was half a lap behind and I spent the rest of the 15 laps catching and passing people,” said Coppins, who had cruised easily through his heat race and qualifier.
Despite a similar first-lap misadventure last week in San Diego, the world number six 250 class rider is not despondent.
“It doesn’t count for much,” he commented. “I’m not here for any championship points or anything like that, it’s just training for the world champs which start in a couple of months.
“I’ve had a good layoff over winter and now I’m starting to dial in for the first grand prix in March.
“Sure it would be nice to be competitive out here but really I’m still only at 75 percent race fitness … and there’s always the risk of a crash and injury if I go too hard.”
Coppins contests one more round of the US series, at Phoenix next weekend, before heading back to Europe to begin development of the CR250 on which he will bid for this year’s world 250 motocross title.
“I’ll link up with my new team, Berni Honda Racing in Italy, and we’ll start testing the 2002 bike,” said the Kiwi expat.
“I’ve already been working with my grand prix mechanic Fabio Santoni, who’s out here with me in the States.”
Coppins says the American experience has been “an eye-opener”. For the third straight event a sellout crowd packed the Edison Field stadium, home of the baseball Angels just down the road from Disneyland.
“Last week we had a crowd of 82,000,” he said. That really creates an atmosphere in the stadium, much different from our outdoor paddocks.”
The Anaheim 125 race was won by Montana’s David Pingree on a KTM from the Kawasaki of rising 16-year-old Florida star Bubba Stewart, one of the first black riders to star in supercross.
The 250 event went to the Honda of Indiana’s Mike LaRocco ahead of French ace David Vuillemin (Yamaha).
