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Photo - Josh Coppins, racing for the runner-up spot in Portugal on the weekend:
This report is from Josh's manager, Glen Dempsey. Visit Josh @ his Website: Josh Coppins.com: It features the Kiwi`s latest news, pictures, profile, wallpapers, etc.
Difficult track conditions due to scattered rain showers could not stop Josh Coppins stepping on to the podium at the Portuguese MX GP in Agueda. The CAS Honda rider was also happy to move to third in the MX1 championship.
An unusual mistake just after the first turn seemed to have ruined all chances of a positive result for “Lizzard” in race one. Passing on the rain drenched circuit would be nearly impossible - however Coppins kept plugging away and moved from twelfth position into the top ten. Capitalizing on the mechanical failures of Smets and Pichon, the CAS Honda broke into the top five just around the halfway mark and was rapidly closing in on a podium spot. With one lap to go, Coppins was in fourth and fellow team-mate Jussi Vehvilainen was within his sights. By the chequered flag, Lizzard had closed down the Finn by eight seconds but just ran out of time to clinch third. Fourth was respectable.
Eager to prove his potential, Coppins made sure he was at the front of the pack in the second moto. He made an aggressive pass on Smets early on and a small mistake by Everts saw the number 5 Honda in second trailing fellow “red rider”, Pichon. Everts tried to pressure the New Zealander but Coppins was having none of it and put together a string of fast laps and was much faster through the back markers. Pichon was just too far ahead - so the Kiwi wisely kept his cool and settled for a well deserved second place finish and second overall for the day.
“Of course I would have liked to win today” expressed Coppins “I’m quite happy with being third in the championship as I had quite a bad start to the season. I should have won last week in Spain but I’m happy with second today. I was expecting more of a fight from Stefan actually and was trying to save a little energy - but Stefan dropped off. The track was really difficult but I tried to make the most of it. The next GP is Namur and although it is really difficult track I’d like to win there. I came really close last year so I really want to beat Stefan there!”
