Coppins 07 World FIM thread

[Danger]

By my reckoning Josh's points lead has been reduced to only 1 or 2 points.

[paturoa]

Not good news, JC didn't finish the 2nd race and only did one lap.

So Ramon now leads with 466 points and Josh is 2nd with 452 points. 14 points gap with one round left.

[Danger]

Wow, thats not good. I hope his shoulder has held togeather.

[Danger]

Josh finishes 18th for the day.

[Danger]

Antonio Cairoli wins race two and the overall in his first MX1 GP. Its going to be interesting to see who is faster at the MXoN between Antonio and Ryan Villopoto. Also to see if these guys can run with part time racer Ricky Carmichael.
James Stewart is out of the MXoN with a busted knee. RC should still be number 1 I would think, but who is number 2 fastest in the world right now? Ryan Villopoto or Antonio Cairoli? I can't wait!

[Nicola W]

It seemed Josh was just not ready enought for the race at Donnington Battling on through the pain...

Taken from his site:

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.





I feel gutted for Josh - He deserves this title. He is still a champion in my eyes whatever happens!


Here's a photo taken by my mate Oliver Lawman at the GP

[merv]

Being gutted started when his team didn't check his back brake hose after that rock incident, from what I can tell, leading to his nasty crash that broke the bone in the first place. Its certainly not looking good for his championship now - bugger!

[Danger]

Its going to be a tough week for Josh, he must be gutted. Sometimes these injury's just come right when you think all is lost. Lets hope he gets over this week and starts focusing on riding the best he can for the final race. Anything can happen, Ramon is going to think he has it in the bag. If Josh is determined, it could be a great come back.
Grit your teeth Josh and never give up!

[paturoa]

I refuse to get negative on this one with the 14 point gap, so I had a look at the earlier rounds

so check these facts out...

- JC beat Ramon by more than 14 points in 4 of the 10 rounds when he was fit.
- Ramon scored 35 or less points in 9 of the 14 rounds to date.
- Ramon hasn't scored more than 35 points in the last five rounds (10 motos).
- Ramon highest finish position in the last 10 motos (5 rounds) is 4th.
- Of the 28 motos to date Ramon has only been a top 3 finisher in 7 motos
- Of the 20 motos with JC fit, he has top 3 results in 17 of them

I'm guessing Ramon is shiting his pants and JC knows this stuff too.

[Danger]

Josh himself has said that he has sustained more damage to his shoulder and while Yamaha have him working on his rehab he is unlikely to start the final race on the rough Netherland circuit. At this point you also have to wonder how ready he can be for the MXoN. Perhaps if he can get some other racing under the belt before then his fitness will improve, but what will Yamaha want him to do over the next few months?

[paturoa]

.....he is unlikely to start the final race on the rough Netherland circuit.

....and more news - I had a look around the usual sites and found nothing.

[Danger]

I guess its wait and see. I'm sure Yamaha and Josh are doing all they can to be at the start but listening to Josh on Radio Sport earlier in the week it did not seem likely that he would be racing. The final decision will probably be made on the day.
I remember breaking some ribs the week before the last two rounds of the National MTB Cross Country Series back in 1998. I could hardly walk in the early part of the week or ride uphill at all, and it hurt just to breath. All I could do was push my bike to the top of the down hill sections and coast down the hills at Muriwai where the 2nd to last race was. I won that race by 40 seconds due to my quicker speed on those down hill sections in comparison to the 2nd rider who kept pace with me around the rest of the track. I hardly felt the pain in the ribs during the race.
The following week again I was very sore and could hardly move or breath but I drove down to Wellington on the Tuesday and shuffled around the track on Mt Victoria that first day, then started to ride it slowly from Wednesday. I was sleeping in my Mazda 323 hatchback lol until I met with some riders while training and slept on their couch. Sunday arrived and again I felt very little pain during the race and won to become Expert Senior Mens National Cross County Champion.
So anything is possible with the right mental attitude and determination. Lets hope Josh has what it takes.

[paturoa]

...... I hardly felt the pain in the ribs during the race......and again I felt very little pain during the race ...

So anything is possible with the right mental attitude and determination.

lol....and really good drugs?

[Danger]

What really helped me was some foul tasting black paste bought from a Chinese medicine man in Wellington. It was disgusting but that along with Arnica had more effect than anything else I tried, although I did take some Cataflam on the day as well (I hope that wasn't a banned drug for sports lol!)

[Danger]

As per the Katherine Prumm thread, it is confirmed that Josh is out for this Championship. Hard luck Josh, heres hoping for a great MXoN and a World title next year.

http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~29~id~153737.htm

A few more comments I guess and that will be the end of this thread.