New Zealand’s Josh Coppins made up some lost ground at the fourth round of the FIM Motocross world championships in Agueda Portugal over the weekend.

The man from Motueka is back up from 15th overall at the start of the weekend to settle for 12th in the series standings by Sunday afternoon.

Coppins finished 17th and 11th in his two MX1 class outings in Portugal.

With 2-2 results, Clement Desalle won the GP, putting himself fifth in the standings, just one points behind fellow Belgian Suzuki rider Steve Ramon.

Defending champion Antonio Cairoli (KTM) finished runner-up on Sunday, coming home 5-1 in the two motos, and the Italian remains top of the series standings.

For Coppins it was an improvement over recent weeks and he managed to improve his position in the championship race with a solid performance at Agueda.

The Factory Aprilia racer made the most of the tricky track conditions after rainfall on Saturday threatened to turn the well-groomed Agueda circuit into a quagmire.

A derailed chain forced the Kiwi out of the 20-minute qualifying race on Saturday, however as mid morning sunshine dried the track on Sunday, Coppins was determined to make the most of his wide starting position.

A faulty start gate had riders on edge as the first moto start was red flagged with officials doing their best to repair the problem.   The restart went smoothly however ‘Lizzard’ was caught in the second half of the pack as he tried to jockey for positions.

Battling to find his true race rhythm, Coppins broke into the top 20 and picked off a few positions as the clock ticked by. But 17th place was the best that the Kiwi could produce in track conditions that were difficult to pass on.

With clouds clearing and track conditions drying out fast, the second moto would make for some exciting racing. Coppins once again had his work cut out with his wide starting gate, however he put in some aggressive opening laps  and pushed through to 10th place around the halfway mark.

A good battle with Ramon and Frenchman Sebastien Pourcel (Kawasaki) would see the trio trading positions as they caught a tiring Davide Guarneri (Honda) with a lap to go.  Pourcel got by the Italian, however Coppins ran out of time but managed to keep Ramon at bay to cross the line in 11th.

“Today was always going to be difficult from where I was placed on the start gate” explained Coppins.

“The first moto was not good at all and I just couldn’t seem to get going and battled the entire moto. The second moto was much better for me and I really enjoyed the rough lines and tricky sections.  I seemed to flow better and was pleased with my speed and result.”

Coppins heads to Bellpuig, Spain next weekend for round five in the 15-round series.

Race results:

Mx1 Race 1

1 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM

2 Desalle, Clement BEL Suzuki

3 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha

4 Boog, Xavier FRA Kawasaki

5 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM

6 Leok, Tanel EST Honda

7 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki

8 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki

9 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda

10 de Reuver, Marc NED Suzuki

11 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM

12 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki

13 Boissiere, Anthony FRA TM

14 Aubin, Nicolas FRA Kawasaki

15 Guarneri, Davide ITA Honda

17 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia

MX1 Race 2

1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM

2 Desalle, Clement BEL Suzuki

3 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha

4 Boog, Xavier FRA Kawasaki

5 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM

6 Leok, Tanel EST Honda

7 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda

8 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha

9 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki

10 Guarneri, Davide ITA Honda

11 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia

12 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki

13 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM

14 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki

15 Boissiere, Anthony FRA TM

16 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda

Mx1 GP Overall:

1 Desalle, Clement BEL Suzuki 44

2 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM 41

3 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM 41

4 Boog, Xavier FRA Kawasaki 36

5 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha 33

6 Leok, Tanel EST Honda 30

7 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda 26

8 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki 25

9 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki 23

10 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha 20

11 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM 18

12 Guarneri, Davide ITA Honda 17

13 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki 16

14 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia 14

15 Boissiere, Anthony FRA TM 14

16 de Reuver, Marc NED Suzuki 13

17 Aubin, Nicolas FRA Kawasaki 7

18 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda 6

Mx1 Championship standings:

1 Cairoli, A. ITA 179

2 Nagl, M. GER 161

3 Philippaerts, D. ITA 133

4 Ramon, Steve BEL 124

5 Desalle, C. BEL 123

6 de Dycker, Ken BEL 114

7 Boog, Xavier FRA 106

8 Leok, Tanel EST 96

9 Bobryshev, E. RUS 79

10 Pourcel, S. FRA 75

11 Guarneri, D. ITA 73

12 Coppins, J. NZL 63

13 Albertson, J. USA 59

14 Swanepoel, G. RSA 57

15 Barragan, J. ESP 56

Photo by CDS