Coppins on the podium

Belgian resident Josh Coppins took part in Round 5 of the National Championship this past weekend, held in Orp-Le-Grand which is located in the ‘French speaking’ region of Belgium. Having had a superb ride in last week’s Lierop Grand Prix, where he stood on the podium, the Monster Energy Yamaha rider was confident of another top result this weekend.

As the gate dropped for the opening moto Coppins powered his Yamaha through the first turn within the leading few. Closing up the opening lap of the short race ‘Lizzard’ was in 2nd place, right behind Belgian’s Steve Ramon. The two GP stars soon dropped the trailing pack as they raced each other lap after lap. With five minutes remaining Coppins put in a move for the lead but slipped out allowing Ramon to edge a small gap. ‘Lizzard’ continued to push hard as he closed back in on Ramon, however with time run out Coppins crossed the line to take 2nd place in the opening international race of the day.

In the second moto Coppins was once again quick out the blocks, rounding the opening lap in 4th position. Pushing hard to try and make a move on Swanepoel for 3rd, Coppins slipped out again, hitting the ground. Quickly re-mounting the Kiwi got back into his rhythm and hunted down the riders in front. With only a handful of laps to make amends, Coppins crossed the line just ahead of De Dycker to take 5th position.
In the final race of the day Coppins once again closed up the opening lap inside the top five. Racing hard from start to finish ‘Lizzard’ rode a solid race to cross the line in 4th position, awarding him with 3rd overall and a place on the podium.

Josh Coppins heads off to Brazil today in order to take part in the final GP of the season next Sunday.

Results

Moto 1
1 RAMON Steve
2 COPPINS Joshua
3 DESALLE Clement
4 LEOK Tanel
5 PRIEM Manuel
6 DE DYCKER Ken
7 VAN DAELE Marvin
8 CAPS Patrick
9 SIMPSON Shaun
10 LAEREMANS Bengt
Moto 2
1 DESALLE Clement
2 RAMON Steve
3 LEOK Tanel
4 SWAENEPOEL Gareth
5 COPPINS Joshua
6 DE DYCKER Ken
7 PRIEM Manuel
8 VAN DAELE Marvin
9 DE REUVER Marc
10 CAPS Patrick
Moto 3
1 DE DYCKER Ken
2 DESALLE Clement
3 RAMON Steve
4 COPPINS Joshua
5 PRIEM Manuel
6 SWAENEPOEL Gareth
7 VAN DAELE Marvin
8 LEOK Tanel
9 DE REUVER Marc
10 LAEREMANS Bengt
Overall
1 DESALLE Clement 67
2 RAMON Steve 67
3 COPPINS Joshua 56
4 DE DYCKER Ken 55
5 LEOK Tanel 51
6 PRIEM Manuel 46
7 VAN DAELE Marvin 41
8 SWAENEPOEL Gareth 40
9 DE REUVER Marc 33
10 CAPS Patrick 33
Championship Standings
1 DESALLE Clement 337
2 DE DYCKER Ken 319
3 COPPINS Joshua 272
4 VAN DAELE Marvin 186
5 RAMON Steve 152
6 CAPS Patrick 144
7 LEOK Tanel 117
8 PRIEM Manuel 116
9 ROELANTS Joel 107
10 DE REUVER Marc 102