Coppins in fitness race for first Grand Prix
By TMX Archives on 22nd Mar 08
Yamaha Monster Motocross Team's Joshua Coppins is facing a rush to be fully fit for the opening round of the 2008 FIM MX1-GP World Championship in two weeks after an incident while training Saturday morning (22nd March) caused the New Zealander to break two toes on his right foot and undergo immediate surgery.
The 31 year old travelled to the Dunkirk circuit in France to begin his motosin the early stages of Saturday morning to avoid a crowded venue later in theday. However his intentions were curtailed after he crested a hill only to finda local rider picking up his machine. Coppins' right foot bore the brunt of thesubsequent collision as he caught the other bike's footpeg. With counsel fromrenowned motocross surgeon Dr Claes, Coppins went under the knife successfullythe same afternoon and did not require the insertion of any metalwork into thetwo smallest toes on his foot.
The natural healing process means that oneof the strongest favourites for the MX1-GP title is now staring at thepossibility of missing the first meeting of the GP series at Valkenswaard in theNetherlands on April 6th.
I cannot believe my luck, this is the thirdinjury in a row that I have had that was not my fault, he said. Valkenswaardis 50-50 at the moment. My foot has to heal naturally and we might run out oftime; I'm not too sure how things will go at the moment. We will have to assessthings over the next few days. I am trying to stay positive but clearly this wasnot what I wanted. It is a long season though and we have to keep lookingahead.
Coppins had won races in Italy and France over the last six weeksin a promising pre-season period on the works YZ450FM. He claimed five grandprix victories in 2007 and was leading the world championship by 107 pointsuntil a freak accident at the Grand Prix of Czech Republic, four rounds beforethe end of the campaign, caused him to surrender what would have been his firstcrown.