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COPPINS 4th IN CZECH:
Motocross ace Josh Coppins has snatched fourth place in the glamour class
at today\'s Grand Prix in the Czech Republic.
New Zealand\'s top motorcycle racer, on the comeback from serious injury,
narrowly missed his aim of another podium finish in the Motocross GP category.
The Honda star was again the first two-stroke rider home at this
penultimate round of the world championship, as Belgian Stefan Everts
wrapped up the title.
Coppins had also qualified in fourth spot during his Saturday session at
Loket, 150km west of Prague just inside the Czech border with Germany.
\"I was confident of better in the race, but today was a very difficult GP
in tricky conditions,\" commented the expat Kiwi after his 40-minute
marathon in the fine, grainy terrain of the Loketske Serpentiny circuit.
\"I didn\'t get the best start and by the time we settled down in the first
couple of laps I was sixth and the leaders had disappeared.\"
Coppins, 26, again displayed his professionalism as he lapped consistently
on the factory Honda CR250R and gradually closed the gap.
\"I was getting around at the same lap time as the leaders and gradually
closing the gap on the guys in the middle, but it was hard going,\" he
explained.
\"Ironically I was doing my fastest laps right at the end of the race, but
it wasn\'t enough to haul up onto the podium.\"
Yamaha racer Everts, already the greatest rider ever with six world titles,
not only clinched another today but easily won the double of the main race
and the support 125 GP to move to 69 grand prix victories.
His only possible challenger for the title today, countryman and four-time
world champ Joel Smets, finished a dismal 10th. Capping a week in which he
told KTM he would leave the Austrian stable at season end Smets started
badly, charged through the field easily passing Coppins and others, then
dropped from contention, effectively handing Everts the title.
Smets cannot be overtaken in second spot overall as Suzuki\'s Mickael Pichon
who led through the first half-season has had knee surgery after a crash
last weekend and is in plaster for six weeks and out of racing for six
months.
The two-time world champ will hold third when this season concludes in a
fortnight.
Coppins, championship runner-up to Pichon last year, is out of the title
running having missed four early rounds after breaking his back, an ankle
and both feet in January. But he climbed to 12th overall today, one place
behind CAS Honda teammate Gordon Crockard who finished fifth in the GP.
Next weekend the pair race the final round of the British championship for
their England-based team, before the last GP of the year in France a week
later.
Championship points after 11 of 12 rounds:
1 Stefan Everts (Belgium) Yamaha 250; 2 Joel Smets (Belgium) KTM 221; 3
Mickael Pichon (France) Suzuki 188 points; 4 Brian Jorgensen (Denmark)
Honda 154, 5 Kenneth Gundersen (Norway) Kawasaki 137; 6 Andrew McFarlane
(Australia) Kawasaki 134; 7 Claudio Federici (Italy) Yamaha 127; 8 Marnicq
Bervoets (Belgium) Yamaha 116; 9 Yoshitaka Atsuta (Japan) CAS Honda 106; 10
Kevin Strijbos (Belgium) Suzuki 104. 12 Josh Coppins (New Zealand) CAS
Honda 80.
Ian RJ Miles
