Yamaha Motocross Team’s Joshua Coppins will make his return
this weekend for round 14 of the MX1 world championship held
at the Donington circuit in the UK. The 30 year old Kiwi has
recovered from his shoulder injury to take up the defense of his
12 points lead over Belgian Steve Ramon. With 100 points up for
grabs the championship will most likely be decided at the last
round scheduled at Lierop (NL) the weekend straight after
Donington.
A CT scan made last Tuesday confirmed that Coppins’ shoulder
has healed very well, enabling him to compete again and
providing the confidence to start riding his YZ450FM for the first
time yesterday since his unfortunate crash at Loket on the 29th of
June. In the period off the bike Coppins made sure he retained
his strength and fitness by following an extensive training
program consisting out of swimming, cycling, mountain biking,
running and general fitness training. In fact the yesterday’s riding
exceeded his expectations; “I rode the bike four times yesterday
and apart from a bit of pain it went really well. I’m 100% in terms
of fitness and strength, just down on riding time. But in a way that
is also a positive thing because I feel really fresh now. I have
trained so hard for this season that at times I felt a bit tired, but
now after a month off the bike I feel very excited and eager to
jump on again.”
Coppins expects that the participation of Cairoli could make a
positive difference, as Antonio’s debut track at Donington will be
hard packed; “Antonio is riding incredibly well this year, so who
knows what he might be able to do, the circuit will suit his
aggressive style and ability. Yet I feel totally able to be more than
a match to Ramon, I won’t say I can win in Donington, but I’ll be
very competitive for sure.’ click on ozzy go to the full story