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By: Ian Miles:
COPPINS NOT GUILTY OF DOPING
Motocross ace Josh Coppins has been found not guilty of doping and remains racing in the world championships.
The New Zealand-born star, 25, was found to have been negligent in taking a hay fever tablet containing a banned substance, pseudo-ephedrine, before the Grand Prix of Austria in June.
Coppins loses the 20 points and prize money for third place in that event, but remains second overall in this year's 250 championship.
At a court hearing before three judges in Switzerland today, he was handed a three-month suspended ban which will be enforced if he tests positive in the next 12 months.
"The past few weeks have been hell," commented the Motueka-born expat
outside the courtroom.
"I've been able to pump myself up for the races and I've kept scoring
podium places, but it's not been easy.
"I lost several kilos in weight and often I found I just couldn't
concentrate on my training and riding because my mind would wander back to
the case.
"Facing a drug charge is perhaps one of the cruelest things that can happen
to a sportsman," said the much-admired professional racer.
"I recognise I've been found guilty of negligence and that's fair enough;
the judges said to me they realise a thing like this can happen.
"I definitely would never have bought that hay fever treatment if I'd known
the tablets contained a banned substance, no matter how minor.
"But the important thing is that I've been found not guilty of doping and I
believe my name is cleared."
Coppins, a hay fever sufferer since his teenage years, explained to the court that he was training in Italy before the Austrian event on 9 June when he ran out of treatment.
At a local pharmacy he bought tablets, subsequently found to contain pseudo-ephedrine and its metabolite cathine. Coppins, who came to the world championships eight years ago as a 17-year-old, has vowed to stick with the sport he loves.
"I just want to get on with my racing and let my results do the talking," he explained. "Right now I'm still second in the championship and it's far from over. There are three rounds to go and I'm in contention for the title," he declared.
Riding while he awaited the hearing, Coppins advanced to 180 points in the championship with yet another second place in Belgium yesterday. It took his unbroken string of podium finishes to seven, counting the now-revoked Austrian result.
Now back on 160 points, he remains one ahead of his German teammate Pit Beirer.
Championship leader and defending champion Mickael Pichon is on 213: even
with Coppins losing points, the Frenchman is not assured of the title.
Unlike last year, he goes to the tenth of 12 rounds in Germany in a
fortnight with the pressure still on as each race offers 25 points for the
win and either Coppins or Beirer could race past the number one Suzuki rider.
"I want to thank Honda Europe who have stuck by me through this and kept me
riding the CR250," Coppins said today.
"Many other people in the sport have been very supportive and encouraging
as well: other teams in the paddock, fellow riders, journalists and many
more.
"I'm not a drug cheat and I think most people know it," he added.
"Certainly I stopped taking those hay fever tablets as soon as I heard the
result of the test, and I will be immensely careful about every medicine I
take for the rest of my career and the rest of my life."
Remaining rounds in the world championship:
August 18 Germany (Western) Gaildorf
September 1 Czech Republic Loket
September 15 Russia Sorochany (Moscow)
also
September 29 Motocross des Nations : California, USA
Revised world 250 championship points after nine of 12 rounds:
1 Mickael
Pichon (France) Suzuki, 213 points; 2 Josh Coppins (NZ) Honda 160; 3 Pit
Beirer (Germany) Honda, 159; 4 Fred Bolley (France) Yamaha 125; 5 Jamie
Dobb (England) KTM 124: 6 Kenneth Gundersen (Norway) Kawasaki 121; 7 Gordon
Crockard (Ireland) KTM 119.
