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COPPINS TAKEN DOWN AT GP:
Misfortune for motocross ace Josh Coppins at the Grand Prix of Bulgaria.
The Honda ace was caught in a multi-bike pileup on the opening lap of today’s world championship event at Sevlievo and limped through to 17th place.
The crash did not aggravate the serious injuries from which Coppins is returning, but it was a blow to the expat Kiwi after he raised eyebrows by qualifying his CAS Honda CR250R seventh fastest yesterday to serve notice he was returning as a force in this glamour class of world racing.
“There wasn’t anything I could do,” commented the 26-year-old after his 40-minute ride in 30-degree-plus temperatures at the hillside circuit east of Sofia.
“Another rider took out the young French guy Meo and they piled up in front of me.
“I had nowhere to go and just flipped right over the top of them. I was lucky to finish, the radiator on my Honda was pretty badly bent.
“Really I should have pulled out straight away because the back brake was damaged and I had to keep pumping it right through the race. That’s a bit dangerous on a hilly track like this.”
The result took the benevolent New Zealander one place higher in the world rankings, to 24th. But Coppins expressed frustration at not making a top-ten place in his only second event after returning from spine, ankle and foot surgery.
“I know now I can ride at that pace, and I’m determined to be back faster again in Austria next GP,” vowed the rider nicknamed Lizzard.
The Bulgarian event marks a dramatic turn at the top of world racing.
For the second week in a row the four-strokes of Belgium’s multi world champions Stefan Everts and Joel Smets filled first and second places and forced the 250 two-stroke of Frenchman Mickael Pichon into fourth spot.
Pichon crashed today while dicing with Smets.
Back-to-back champion in the 250 class in which Coppins was runner-up last season, the controversial French rider now holds a slender four-point lead in the 2003 Motocross GP title chase.
Coppins’ fellow CAS Honda rider Yoshi Atsuta of Japan slotted into 10th place on his four-stroke CRF450R today, overcoming a persistent knee injury which kept him in 27th qualifying spot yesterday.
The other two members of the squad based in the English midlands were non-starters, highly-rated Irishman Gordon Crockard with a broken finger keeping him off his CRF450R and Finn Jussi Vehvilainen out of the 650 class for a longer term with a back injury.
Round six of the championship is at Karntenring, Austria in a fortnight.
Grand Prix of Bulgaria, Motocross GP result:
1 Stefan Everts (Belgium) Yamaha, 2 Joel Smets (Belgium) KTM, 3 Brian Jorgensen (Denmark) Honda, 4 Mickael Pichon (France) Suzuki, 5 Andrew McFarlane (Australia) Kawasaki, 6 Claudio Federici (Italy) Yamaha, 7 Marnicq Bervoets (Belgium) Yamaha, 8 Patrick Caps (Belgium) KTM, 9 Kenneth Gundersen (Norway) Kawasaki, 10 Yoshitaka Atsuta (Japan) CAS Honda. 17 Josh Coppins (New Zealand) CAS Honda.
Motocross GP World Championship standings after five of 12 rounds:
1 Pichon 111 points; 2 Smets 108; 3 Everts 100; 4 Jorgensen 67, 5 Federici 64,6 Gundersen 63, 7 McFarlane 55, 8 Atsuta 49, 9 Kevin Strijbos (Belgium) Suzuki 46, 10 Gordon Crockard (Ireland) CAS Honda 40. 24 Coppins 10.
Ian Miles
Josh’s Manager
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Read the report from MXLarge.Com
