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Joshua Coppins has ridden through agonizing pain in defense of his MX1 world title aspirations at a spectacular Donington Park circuit, close to Derby.
The tough Factory Yamaha racer qualified in 10th spot on Saturday minimizing his laps on a jump filled track to save his shoulder for the two 35 minute + 2 Lap motos to come on Sunday.
Coppins’s lightening reactions saw him rocket to the hole-shot in race 1, however Scotsman, Billy McKenzie quickly snuck past as Coppins had to fend off a gaggle of riders biting at his heels. As the race wore on it was visible that the Kiwi was battling with pain as he gradually lost position after position. Coppins salvaged 14th spot but it was clear that he had pushed his pain threshold to the limit.
The second moto would not last long for the New Zealander as he was bunched in at the start and appeared in 20th position on lap one. Coppins completed 3 laps before retiring from the unbearable pain.
“I was pretty happy with the first moto considering the pain I had. For the first fifteen minutes I was quite good but then the pain settled in. My lines were not good as I was focused on the pain rather than on the riding. It’s not easy to go out and race like that. My family is here from NZ and I wanted to go and give 100% for them and my fans and I couldn’t and that is more frustrating than anything. I have worked so hard for this championship and not being able to fight for it is the worst thing of all. It is a hard pill for me to swallow right now. I’m filled with so many emotions. I hope that this coming week will bring more clarity as to what I will do in Lierop.” stated a distraught Coppins.
The final round of the FIM Motocross championship will take place in Lierop in a week’s time where Coppins will have a 14 point deficit over Belgian Steve Ramon. Having held the red leaders plate for 14 rounds of the 15 it is unclear whether the hard working Kiwi will be able to give it his best shot at the GP of the Netherlands.
