Zealand’s Josh Coppins now has a huge fight on his hands to win
the motocross world championships following a crash in the Czech
Republic at the weekend.
Fingers are crossed that Coppins’ crash, at the 11th of 15 rounds
in this year’s world championships, at Loket, will be just a minor
set-back but that may be optimistic thinking after news arrived
today that his shoulder injury is more serious than first thought
and he could be out of action for up to three weeks.
That will rule him out of the Belgian GP in Namur this weekend
and possibly the one after that, in Northern Ireland on August 19,
although Coppins is confident of making it to Ireland.
With the 30-year-old from Motueka sidelined and unable to
defend his 77-point lead in the championship, and his rivals
hungrily nibbling away at the margin, it applies incredible
pressure on Coppins to be at his best again when he does return
to the race track.
Runaway championship leader Coppins suffered incredible bad
luck in the Czech Republic at the weekend.
With 50 points available at each GP, this means Coppins still has
more than one GP up his sleeve. But, with four events remaining
-- the Belgian GP (at Namur next weekend), the Irish GP, the
British GP and the Dutch GP – that means there are still 200
points available and Coppins’ advantage will quickly evaporate.
Coppins scored no points when he suffered “freak technical
problems” in both the MX1 races at the Loket circuit on Sunday,
a rock jamming in the rear... click on ozy go to the full story