Coppins to race British championship
He’s officially been retired from fulltime motocross racing for a few seasons now, but don’t try telling Josh Coppins that he should slow down any time soon.
As manager of the Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team in New Zealand and major backer of Otago’s Courtney Duncan in her bid to win the women’s motocross world championships (WMX) this season, Coppins is spending a lot of time in Europe this year.
He was on the sideline to support Duncan at the fourth round of the WMX series in the Czech Republic at the weekend – an event at which she snatched back the overall championship lead – but he’s travelling to England this week.
So it seemed like an opportunity not to be missed when he knew he’d be in England at the same time as round seven of the Maxxis ACU British motocross championship at Preston Docks this weekend.
‘‘I’ve got the time off before flying to the south of France on holiday, so I was looking for somewhere to have a ride and I saw that event was on. I’ve never ridden there so I thought I’d enter,’’ he said.
Of course, Coppins is no stranger to winning at the top level.
He is a former two-time British champion, former Australian champion and multi-time former New Zealand champion. In addition to this he twice finished runner-up in the motocross world championships and twice finished third overall.
The now 40-year-old Coppins even raced his way to a close runner-up finish in his class at the veterans world championships in the United States last November.
Even as one of the oldest riders in the premier 30+ pro division, Coppins had been one of the title favourites to win and he was eventually denied by the slimmest of margins.
Coppins finished first and second in the two races, which positioned him first equal with 36-year-old American factory test rider Mike Sleeter, although the Kiwi hero was relegated to second overall because of the count-back rule with Sleeter having the superior result in the final race.
While he’s putting no pressure on himself to perform at Preston Docks this weekend, Coppins asserts he won’t be there just to make up the numbers.
‘‘I don’t expect much [from the racing],’’ said Coppins. ‘‘It’s more of a training exercise to help get in shape for some upcoming events later in the year.
‘‘If I can make good starts, I’d like to think I’d be capable of running top five, but I don’t really have a clue as I don’t know the track or the competition or my speed and fitness.
‘‘And that’s the reason why I’m doing the event ... to see where I’m at.’’