Coppins ends fourth in Italian championship

The fourth and final round of the Italian championship has come to completion at a spectacular San Severino circuit under moderate Spring conditions.

Factory Aprilia Racer, Josh Coppins, looked set to end his championship off on high with a 3Rd place in his qualification group as he hounded German Maxi Nagl and American Jimmy Albertson to the line.

As the gate dropped for the opening moto, Coppins and Cairoli went bar to bar into the first turn trying to grab the hole-shot with ‘The Lizzard’ being pushed wide as he emerged in 3rd. Riding a steady race, Coppins came under pressure in the final stages of the moto and did not have an answer for Leok and Guarneri as they stole a podium finish away from the Kiwi.

The final and deciding moto would see misfortune sideline Coppins when his machine was forced to the side with a technical problem. Coppins was not able to complete the race and also lost his overall podium spot in the championship to Monni.

“We have been making headway with our testing however today we had an unfortunate DNF. I was pumped with my first moto start and again this proves that we are now competitive on the start which is important for the GP’s. I have missed some valuable riding time on the bike due to the broken rib but I am starting to feel confident and am looking forward to Bulgaria in two weeks time. “ commented Coppins.

Coppins won the Bulgarian GP last year and will be looking to Sevlievo for a positive start to his 2010 MX GP campaign.

Race results:

Race 1: 1 Cairoli, 2. Nagl, 3. Tanel Leok, 4. Davide Guarneri, 5. Coppins, 6. Monni, 7.Albertson, 8 Priem 9. Salvini, 10. Krestinov



Race 2: 1. Nagl, 2. Cairoli, 3. Tanel Leok, 4. Albertson, 5. Davide Guarneri, 6. Albertson, 7.Bonini, 8. Compagnone, 9. Bill, 10. Kohut


Overall classification: 1. Max Nagl 47, 2. Tony Cairoli 47, 3. Tanel Leok 40, 4. Davide Guarneri 34, 5. Manuel Monni 33, 6.Jimmy Albertson 29 ptn, 7. Julien Bill 21, 8. Martin Kohut 21, 9. Matteo Bonini 20, 10. Felice Compagnone 20


Championship standings: 1. Davide Guarneri 152, 2. Tanel Leok 135, 3. Manuel Monni 126, 4. Josh Coppins 108, 5. Jimmy Albertson 105, 6. David Philippaerts 100 ptn, 7. Alex Salvini 99, 8. Tony Cairoli 91, 9. Manuel Priem 82, 10. Julien Bill 78

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