Tough Italian GP for Coppins

The second round of the FIM Motocross World championship saw close to 20.000 spectators turn out for the GP of Lombardia in Italy. Factory Aprilia racer, Josh Coppins, got off to a rough start when he collided with Frenchman Greg Aranada in mid air and was lucky to escape without any serious injuries during the Saturday qualifying race. Despite the huge crash Coppins still managed to nurse his mangled machine to 24th place.

With weather conditions much cooler for Sunday’s GP, Coppins rolled onto the start line bruised and stiff. Being placed on a wide gate resulted in a poor start, but things got worse as another crash left Coppins on the deck and in 33rd position. Pushing hard ‘Lizzard’ salvaged 17th spot by the end of a grueling moto.

Rough track conditions made for a difficult final race however Coppins grabbed a great start and was placed inside the top ten. Battling back and forth with some of the competition, Coppins lost some ground at the mid-way point, but with just ten minutes left on the clock he put in a last minute charge and salvaged a few positions to cross the finish line in 11th position.

“The weekend started off with a scare. Aranda got cross rutted on the take off and came across me in mid air and we hit the ground really hard. I was lucky to get away with only a few bruises and a slight concussion. Considering the poor gate pick, and related starts, I was relatively happy with the results, but if I am totally honest I will be happy to forget this GP.”

The GP teams will be afforded a week’s break before round 3 takes place in Valkenswaard on the 24th -25th of April.

Results

Moto 1
1 DESALLE, Clement
2 CAIROLI, Antonio
3 NAGL, Maximilian
4 DE DYCKER, Ken
5 POURCEL, Sebastien
6 ALBERTSON, Jimmy
7 BOOG, Xavier
8 BARRAGAN, Jonathan
9 LEOK, Tanel
10 RAMON, Steve
11 MONNI, Manuel
12 DE REUVER, Marc
13 GUARNERI, Davide
14 BOBRYSHEV, Evgeny
15 SWANEPOEL, Gareth
17 COPPINS, Joshua


Moto 2
1 CAIROLI, Antonio
2 PHILIPPAERTS, David
3 NAGL, Maximilian
4 DESALLE, Clement
5 DE DYCKER, Ken
6 BOOG, Xavier
7 RAMON, Steve
8 BARRAGAN, Jonathan
9 BOBRYSHEV, Evgeny
10 BOISSIERE, Anthony
11 COPPINS, Joshua
12 STRIJBOS, Kevin
13 ALBERTSON, Jimmy
14 SWANEPOEL, Gareth
15 MONNI, Manuel

GP Overall
1 CAIROLI, Antonio
2 DESALLE, Clement
3 NAGL, Maximilian
4 DE DYCKER, Ken
5 BOOG, Xavier
6 BARRAGAN, Jonathan
7 RAMON, Steve
8 PHILIPPAERTS, David
9 ALBERTSON, Jimmy
10 BOBRYSHEV, Evgeny
11 POURCEL, Sebastien
12 LEOK, Tanel
13 MONNI, Manuel
14 COPPINS, Joshua
15 SWANEPOEL, Gareth

World Championship Standings
1 CAIROLI, Antonio 88
2 NAGL, Maximilian 87
3 DESALLE, Clement 79
4 DE DYCKER, Ken 65
5 PHILIPPAERTS, David 60
6 RAMON, Steve 59
7 BARRAGAN, Jonathan 56
8 BOOG, Xavier 54
9 POURCEL, Sebastien 37
10 COPPINS, Joshua 37
11 GUARNERI, Davide 32
12 SWANEPOEL, Gareth 31
13 MONNI, Manuel 31
14 LEOK, Tanel 30
15 ALBERTSON, Jimmy 29

www.joshcoppins.com