Courtney's exit from the WMX is déjà vu for her team boss Josh CoppinsCourtney's demise brought back memories of 2007 and when I reminded him last night, he could only muster a "Yeh." During the MX1 World Championship Josh had built a 107-point lead in the championship with only 4 rounds to go. He crashed at Loket busting his shoulder. I went looking for the 2007 Yamaha media release and here is an edited version.  29 July 2007: 24,000 spectators witnessed Yamaha Motocross Team’s Josh Coppins experience the ill-fortune that motocross racing can occasionally serve, at the eleventh round of fifteen, in the FIM MX1 World Championship; the Grand Prix of Czech Republic held at a chilly and showery Loket circuit.
The 30
year old New Zealander failed to pick up points in either race after suffering
with unpredictable brake trouble. He finished twenty-second in the first moto
after a stone jammed the rear brake pedal and locked the back end solid,
causing the Kiwi – who was running in
third place at the time – to stop and lose almost a lap.
In the second outing a similar strike of bad luck caused Josh to loose brake pressure because of a leaking rear brake hose that was a result of a small collision with another competitor. With no rear braking power he crashed at the bottom of the steep downhill. He was forced to retire with a painful shoulder.
The circuit is located some 140 kilometres west of Prague and short distance outside the idyllic spa town of Karlovy Vary. The course has barely altered over the years with the same steep rises and drops marking the defining features of a fast and natural layout. The mud – littered with small stones – was as slippery as always and made attacking the corners a calculated risk for the riders. Poor weather conditions with fine rain dampened race day.
"The first race was going OK. I was sitting comfortably in third and looking to move forward to try and win the race but then a stone jammed in the rear brake and, well, that’s part of racing and there is not much we can do about that. In the second moto I was riding OK, nothing special, and I was trying to do a smart race. Ramon was behind me so I knew I could recover a few more points. I knew I could not win the GP, so there was no point in doing something silly. I had a problem off the step-down and could not stop. I hit the banking pretty hard and now have to try and get these injuries sorted for Namur. To sum the day up all I can say is ‘that’s racing’. I have had good luck this season but today we had two problems that were nobody’s fault but just racing incidents. The points lead is still there but now I just want to make sure my shoulder is OK for Namur.” Footnote: Josh missed rounds at Namur and Northern Ireland but made an attempt to race at Donington. It earned him just seven points, the result of a 14th position finish in the first moto. He retired from the second moto early on because excessive pain prevented him from continuing. The pain remained during this week despite trying another special treatment. ACT scan of the shoulder revealed that the race at Donington did not aggravate the injury, but that the healing of the bone had not progressed any further. The only advice the doctor could give was to take rest and wait until the bone has healed completely. The prospect of the physically demanding deep sand track of Lierop offers no hope for him to close the point’s deficit so he withdrew. He finished 3rd in the Championship behind Steve Ramon and Kevin Strijbos.  |