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Coppins content with Hawkstone results - under the circumstances.
It was touch and go whether Coppins would even be in Hawkstone Park this weekend. The vice-world champion pulled a muscle in his back while training in Dunkurque three days prior to the event. Coppins’s doctor and physio did enough to have the Kiwi on the start gate for Sunday’s event.
Unable to put in a good qualifying time, Coppins also blew his start and had to ride through the pain to come back to 5th position in moto 1.
The second moto seemed to be going much better for the CAS Honda rider, however two small crashes kept him from finishing on the podium as he came home in 6th.
The super-final started off with a Coppins hole-shot and after a lot of chopping an changing of positions, Lizzard passed Everts after the Belgian took a tumble and then he went after and passed Strijbos before hooking neutral into the infamous ‘bomb hole’ and threw away his lead. He lost some more time when he was caught on the up hill section after Nunn crashed in front of him. He managed to get going again and crossed the finish line in 3rd for a commendable result:
Under the harsh weather conditions and almost unbearable pain Coppins was pleased to have finished the day. “I kept thinking about my back and not really concentrating on my riding. I’m quite happy with the results considering the pain I was in but I am also happy to get the day over with. I am still better off now than last year! Last year I left here with an injury so that was in the back of mind as well. My original plan was to stay and test this week in the UK, however I’ll be driving back to Belgium tonight to see my specialist and see what the best course of action is for the next few days because I don’t want to lose too much training time.” said the New Zealander.
Coppins is due to return to the UK next weekend to defend his British title when the series kicks off in Lyng, Norfolk.
