Motocross GP star, Joshua Coppins traded his regular THOR racing gear for a set of leathers to take part in the Proximus Superbiker in Mettet, Belgium over the weekend. The 32- year-old Kiwi has become a regular at the Supermoto event that pits the world’s best Motocross racers against an elite world class Supermoto field.

After qualifying 7th in the ‘Starbiker’ class, Coppins got off to a good start in Moto 1 but crashed and had to start from last as he worked his way back up to 12th.
A lesser start in Moto 2 saw ‘Lizzard’ start just inside the top ten but he soon found his rhythm and joined a train of riders fighting for a podium spot. Included in the battle were, Jeff Ward, Stefan Everts, Micky Dymond and Cedric Melotte. Coppins finished on the back end of the train for a respectable 7th place.

In the Super final which combines the top finishing Supermoto stars with MX stars from the Starbiker, Coppins gated 14th and had blinding start which saw him in 4th position from the get go. A few mistakes on the slippery Mettet course relegated the New Zealander down to 10th which was a podium finish in the Starbiker classification with Bartolini and Pichon finishing ahead of Coppins.

“This was my first time riding in the wet at Mettet and it was fun but at the same time it was tough,” commented Coppins after another enjoyable ride. “ The weekend started off dry then wet, then it dried out then it was wet again so really mixed conditions. It was a little bit more like Motocross and we came prepared which helped as well. “

Race results:

STARBIKER: RACE 1
1 PICHON MICKAEL
2 BOLLEY FREDERIC
3 WARD JEFF
4 BARTOLINI ANDREA
5 EVERTS STEFAN
6 MELOTTE CEDRIC
7 JADOUL DIDIER
8 ATKINS DARRYL
9 DYMOND MICKY
10 LONBOIS VINCENT
11 SIMEON XAVIER
12 COPPINS JOSHUA
13 FORET FABIEN
14 TRACCAN THIERRY
15 BREUGELMANS SVEN

RACE 2
1 PICHON MICKAEL
2 BARTOLINI ANDREA
3 WARD JEFF
4 MELOTTE CEDRIC
5 EVERTS STEFAN
6 DYMOND MICKY
7 COPPINS JOSHUA
8 BOLLEY FREDERIC
9 BREUGELMANS SVEN
10 JADOUL DIDIER
11 SIMEON XAVIER
12 LONBOIS VINCENT
13 TRACCAN THIERRY
14 FORET FABIEN

Superbike Final:
1 LAZZARINI IVAN
2 DELEPINE GERALD
3 BARTOLINI ANDREA
4 PICHON MICKAEL
5 BURKHART MARK
6 CHAMBON BORIS
7 KUENZEL JUERGEN
8 VERSCHEURE THOMAS
9 BIDART SYLVAIN
10 COPPINS JOSHUA
11 FLANDIN GUILLAUME
12 FEBVRE ROMAIN
13 FILLMORE CHRISTOPHER
14 GODFROID THIERRY
15 BAUMANN SIMON