The injury sustained while practicing , threatened to put the New Zealander out of contention however Coppins put the pain and discomfort aside and salvaged valuable championship points in his quest for the MX1 world title.

Having qualified 8th in the Saturday timed session, Coppins had a reasonable pick at the start gate and used that to his advantage as the first heat of the Sunday program got underway. ‘Lizzard’ just missed out on the all important ‘hole-shot’ but emerged 5th on the first lap.

He set consistent lap times and moved into a podium spot when team-mate David Philippaerts miscalculated a passing move, putting Coppins down in the dirt with only a few minutes left on the clock.

Coppins quickly restarted his machine to finish 6th after a gutsy performance. A well executed jump and start in the second moto had Coppins entering the first turn in front of the pack however a small slip saw the Kiwi having to give away the lead.

With track conditions deteriorating lap by lap, Coppins settled into 7th and rode his own pace to finish the grueling 35 minute moto safely.

“All in all this has been a pretty good weekend under the circumstances. Qualifying went well with 8th place. My starts were good in both motos however I went a bit wide in the first one and slid out in the second but was up there.

"This weekend was just damage control really and I rode the best I could within the pain, trying not to damage the foot at all. I haven’t been able to do the work to be best prepared for this race. I am quite happy with the result which is a relief after what I have gone through in the last two weeks.

"I’m sitting in 6th overall now whereas two weeks ago I was looking at the bones sticking out of my toes so I’m happy with the position I am in. I have the stitches removed from my toes tomorrow and then I plan to get some more time on the bike later in the week.

"We’ll head to France for some guaranteed better weather and hopefully with that time in the saddle I’ll be able to build back some strength for Spain and aim to be strong in Portugal.”

There will be a week break before round 2 takes place at the spectacular hard-pack circuit of Bellpuig in Spain on the 19-20 April.

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