Coppins fights to keep in the points hunt

The famous Loket circuit, situated just across the German-Czech border has played host to the 13th round of the MX GP World championships. CAS Honda man, Josh Coppins, has lost one point to arch rival, Stefan Everts in the championship standings despite some tough luck over the weekend.

Coppins could just about avoid a first turn pile up as Spanish rider Jonathan Barragan clashed with the CAS Honda. It took Lizzard a few laps to regain his composure however he was constantly posting the fastest split and looked to be making some headway on the leaders when he moved into third position around the halfway mark. Coppins pushed his machine to the limit and spectators thought that it would be battle of the titans as both Coppins and Pichon had closed the gap on Everts. A few minor errors in the dieing minutes of the race gave Pichon and Everts just enough breathing room to take honours but Coppins had proved that he was carrying superior speed.

Dark clouds threatened another downpour for race two nevertheless Coppins’s lightening quick reactions saw him grabbing the hole-shot but then losing it to Belgian, Kevin Strijbos as he exited the first turn. Lizzard lost the use of his roll offs on the second lap and with the consistent rain he had a difficult task ahead of him. The CAS Honda lost no time and powered its way up the inside of a difficult off camber to snatch the lead from Strijbos. Battling with his vision, Coppins managed to keep Strijbos at bay but with ten minutes to go he made a small error and lost the lead. Unable to take the punishment of the pebbly soil, Coppins had to settle for second spot.

“ Today has been quite difficult. I almost went down in the start in the first race but managed to keep on the bike. I came back quite good and had great speed in the middle of the race. I was able to catch up to Stefan and Mickael so I was quite happy with that. In the second heat I broke my roll offs two laps into the race and battled to see the lines which made things quite difficult. I’ll race in my home town in Balen next with Ben. It’s a heavy sand track so it will be good to do some testing with the bike before Lierop and improve my sand riding,” explained Coppins.

Results MX1

Race1

1 Everts Stefan, Bel, Yamaha, 39:07.404
2 Pichon Mickael, Fra, Honda, 39:08.506
3 Coppins Joshua, Nzl, Honda, 39:15.728
4 Strijbos Kevin, Bel, Suzuki, 39:29.757
5 Townley Ben, Nzl, Ktm, 39:37.707
6 De Dijcker Ken, Bel, Honda, 39:44.690
7 Leuret Pascal, Fra, Honda, 39:48.352
8 Leok Tanel, Est, Kawasaki, 39:56.065
9 Jorgensen Brian, Den, Yamaha, 40:02.135
10 Hucklebridge Mark , Gbr, Honda, 40:02.392
11 Theybers Danny, Bel, Suzuki, 40:06.113
12 Seguy Luigi, Fra, Yamaha, 40:07.839
13 Smets Joel, Bel, Suzuki, 40:16.400
14 Cooper Paul, Gbr, Honda, 40:30.877
15 Meo Antoine, Fra, Husqvarna, 40:32.429

Race 2

1 Strijbos Kevin, Bel, Suzuki, 39:27.132
2 Coppins Joshua, Nzl, Honda, 39:31.918
3 Townley Ben, Nzl, Ktm, 39:36.520
4 Everts Stefan, Bel, Yamaha, 40:00.962
5 De Dijcker Ken, Bel, Honda, 40:05.679
6 Seguy Luigi, Fra, Yamaha, 40:12.958
7 Leok Tanel, Est, Kawasaki, 40:13.832
8 Hucklebridge Mark, Gbr, Honda, 40:32.281
9 Noble James, Gbr, Honda, 40:37.174
10 Theybers Danny, Bel, Suzuki, 40:48.254
11 Leuret Pascal, Fra, Honda, 40:55.838
12 Atsuta Yoshitaka, Jpn, Suzuki, 41:04.511
13 Priem Manuel, Bel, Yamaha, 41:10.656
14 Salvini Alex, Ita, Suzuki, 41:12.132
15 Jorgensen Brian, Den, Yamaha, 41:13.295

MX1 Championship standings

1 Everts Stefan, Bel, Yamaha, 539 points
2 Coppins Joshua, Nzl, Honda, 500 points
3 Townley Ben, Nzl, Ktm, 426 points
4 Smets Joel, Bel, Suzuki, 385 points
5 Pichon Mickael, Fra, Honda, 368 points
6 Ramon Steve, Bel, Ktm, 342 points
7 Leuret Pascal, Fra, Honda, 267 points
8 De Dijcker Ken, Bel, Honda, 245 points
9 Noble James, Gbr, Honda, 230 points
10 Jorgensen B., Den, Yamaha, 224 points
11 Theybers Danny, Bel, Suzuki, 223 points
12 Leok Tanel, Est, Kawasaki, 219 points
13 Barragan Jonathan, Spa, Ktm, 203 points
14 Atsuta Yoshitaka, Jpn, Suzuki, 184 points
15 Pyrhonen Antti, Fin, Tm, 156 points