Coppins experiences tough day in Valkenswaard

The 3rd round of the FIM MX World championship welcomed a strong crowd to the ‘Eurocircuit’ in Valkenswaard, the Netherlands, over the weekend. Factory Aprilia racer, Josh Coppins, enjoyed the warm weather but could not take advantage of the treacherous sand conditions and his 10th place qualifying position as he lined up for moto 1 on Sunday. A first lap crash with Italian Manuel Monni left Coppins eating Dutch sand has he remounted and gave chase to the pack. The Kiwi’s efforts were short lived when he collided with a fallen rider and damaged the clutch perch of his Factory aprilia machine had to retire from the race.

In the second moto Coppins didn’t get the jump he needed and was a little tentative on the open laps trying to avoid any mishaps as in moto 1. As he settled down ‘Lizzard’ he gained a few positions as he broke into the top 10. A 9th position by the end of the 35min + 2 laps was not enough to make up for the shortfall in moto1.

“The racing is so close this year and sometimes you have to take risks but today they never paid off for me. I can’t afford not to earn points in both motos because it seems a lot of the guys are getting more consistent and having a 0 on the score card really hurts. My goal is to get back into the top 10 after Portugal and Spain and to post two consistent race results. “ vowed a determined Coppins.

Coppins will take part in round 3 of the British MX champs in Duns next weekend before heading to Portugal a week later for round 4 of the MX World champs.

Image: CDS

Race results:

MX1 Race 1
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM
2 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
3 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
4 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
5 Leok, Tanel EST Honda
6 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha
7 Guarneri, Davide ITA Honda
8 Albertson, Jimmy USA Honda
9 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda
10 de Reuver, Marc NED Suzuki
11 Boog, Xavier FRA Kawasaki
12 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda
13 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
14 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki
15 Söderström, Tom SWE Yamaha
DNF Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia

MX1 Race 2
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM
2 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
3 Leok, Tanel EST Honda
4 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
5 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda
6 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
7 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha
8 Albertson, Jimmy USA Honda
9 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia
10 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda
11 Guarneri, Davide ITA Honda
12 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki
13 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki
14 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
15 Boog, Xavier FRA Kawasaki

MX1 GP Overall
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM 50
2 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki 42
3 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha 40
4 Leok, Tanel EST Honda 36
5 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM 33
6 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha 29
7 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda 28
8 Albertson, Jimmy USA Honda 26
9 Guarneri, Davide ITA Honda 24
10 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda 20
11 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki 16
12 Boog, Xavier FRA Kawasaki 16
13 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha 15
14 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki 13
15 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia 12

MX1 World championship standings:
1 Cairoli, A. ITA 138
2 Nagl, M. GER 120
3 Ramon, Steve BEL 101
4 Philippaerts, D. ITA 100
5 de Dycker, Ken BEL 94
6 Desalle, C. BEL 79
7 Boog, Xavier FRA 70
8 Leok, Tanel EST 66
9 Barragan, J. ESP 56
10 Guarneri, D. ITA 56
11 Albertson, J. USA 55
12 Bobryshev, E. RUS 53
13 Swanepoel, G. RSA 51
14 Pourcel, S. FRA 50
15 Coppins, J. NZL 49

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