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COPPINS HOT IN CZECH:
Motocross ace Josh Coppins has scorched to a top qualifying place for
Sunday\'s Grand Prix in the Czech Republic.
The expat Kiwi put his Honda on fourth place on the grid during a difficult
Saturday session at Loket, 150km west of Prague just inside the Czech
border with Germany.
With rain showers sweeping the Loketske Serpentiny circuit and temperatures
low, Coppins showed his professionalism as he adapted the factory CR250R to
changing conditions.
\"Early in the day we didn\'t have the bike set up very well, but as we made
changes my lap times improved from 17th right up to fourth,\" commented the
26-year-old star of Britain\'s CAS Honda team.
\"At the end I\'m just exactly one second off the top qualifying time.
\"That\'s an excellent grid position for tomorrow\'s race, now I can just
concentrate on getting out of the gate cleanly and we\'ll see how the GP
develops.\"
Coppins has set his sights on a podium position at this penultimate round
of the world championships glamour class.
Back from horrific injuries at the beginning of this year, the New
Zealand-born ace has had to pick himself off the floor and develop a new
riding style.
The results are starting to arrive now as he qualified today one place in
front of great champion Stefan Everts, the man expected to wrap up his
seventh world title this weekend or at the final round in France in a
fortnight.
The Belgian won\'t have it all his own way however. His countryman Joel
Smets, himself a four-times world champ, snatched pole position today and
declared he is ready to win his first race of the year in this Motocross GP
class.
The task has been eased for both four-stroke riders with the demise of
Mickael Pichon who led through the first half-season. Following knee
surgery after a crash last weekend the controversial Frenchman is in
plaster for six weeks and out of racing for six months.
Coppins\' strong showing today comes on the heels of impressive ride to
dominate an international event in England last Monday.
Runner-up in the championship last year, he is out of contention for the
title this season after breaking his back, an ankle and both feet in January.
But Coppins has fought back and already took one podium place a couple of
races ago.
Tomorrow\'s race starts early afternoon local time.
Championship points after 10 of 12 rounds:
1 Stefan Everts (Belgium) Yamaha 225; 2 Joel Smets (Belgium) KTM 210; 3
Mickael Pichon (France) Suzuki 188 points; 4 Brian Jorgensen (Denmark)
Honda 134, 5 Kenneth Gundersen (Norway) Kawasaki 124; 6 Andrew McFarlane
(Australia) Kawasaki 119; 7 Claudio Federici (Italy) Yamaha 113, 8
Yoshitaka Atsuta (Japan) CAS Honda 98; 9 Kevin Strijbos (Belgium) Suzuki
95; 10 Marnicq Bervoets (Belgium) Yamaha 94. 13 Josh Coppins (New Zealand)
CAS Honda 62.
Ian RJ Miles
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