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New Zealand\'s top motorcycle racer Josh Coppins has re-confirmed his status among the best in the world with a stunning fourth place in the World Supercross Championship.
With a fighting fifth in the final round today (Saturday night Euro time) the young expat from Motueka has finished just one point off a third-place podium spot in this gruelling indoor form of the dirt sport.
Coppins, still only 23, was the top placed outdoor motocross specialist - and even shut down some of the US-based supercross superstars.
\"I\'m really happy with how it all turned out,\" said the high-flying Suzuki Corona teamster from Leipzig in Germany, venue of the second round of the championship.
\"My form has held really well from the first round in France last month . I was getting good starts and I\'m happy with my riding.\"
The championship was won by defending champion David Vuillemin, a Frenchman now racing for Yamaha in the US.
Coppins\' sometime Suzuki teammate Greg Albertyn of South Africa grabbed runner-up spot as the swansong to a career which has taken him to the top in America.
The only Euro-based racer to head Coppins was supercross specialist Thierry Bethys of France on a Honda.
\"Thierry rode really well on the night and just got past me on points,\" said the Kiwi who also snaffled fourth in the World Motocross Champs this year.
\"I guess it was payback for when I got the better of him in front of his home crowd at Stade de France.\"
Coppins was especially pleased to finish ahead of the biggest name in world supercross, American Jeremy McGrath.
The legendary king of the stadium sport won the night in Leipzig, but was down on points after crashing out of the first round in a tangle with Coppins\' French teammate in the Belgian-based Suzuki outfit Mickael Pichon.
Coppins now returns to testing and promotional work around Europe before taking a short break at the end of the year.
