New Zealand‰Ûªs Josh Coppins now has a huge fight on his hands to win the motocross world championships following a crash in the Czech Republic at the weekend.
Fingers are crossed that Coppins‰Ûª crash, at the 11th of 15 rounds in this year‰Ûªs world championships, at Loket, will be just a minor set-back but that may be optimistic thinking after news arrived today that his shoulder injury is more serious than first thought and he could be out of action for up to three weeks.
That will rule him out of the Belgian GP in Namur this weekend and possibly the one after that, in Northern Ireland on August 19, although Coppins is confident of making it to Ireland.
With the 30-year-old from Motueka sidelined and unable to defend his 77-point lead in the championship, and his rivals hungrily nibbling away at the margin, it applies incredible pressure on Coppins to be at his best again when he does return to the race track.
Runaway championship leader Coppins suffered incredible bad luck in the Czech Republic at the weekend.
With 50 points available at each GP, this means Coppins still has more than one GP up his sleeve. But, with four events remaining -- the Belgian GP (at Namur next weekend), the Irish GP, the British GP and the Dutch GP ‰ÛÒ that means there are still 200 points available and Coppins‰Ûª advantage will quickly evaporate.
Coppins scored no points when he suffered ‰ÛÏfreak technical problems‰Û
