KEY POINTS:
The chances of Kiwi Josh Coppins winning his first motocross world championship brightened at the weekend's Irish GP near Belfast.
And this was despite the factory Yamaha start not even showing up at the new circuit of Moneyglass on Sunday.
Coppins crashed at the Czech Republic GP at
Loket last month and scored no points that day as he was taken to hospital for examination of his injured shoulder.
Doctors ruled that he should not race at the GP in Belgium and the series leader saw his 107-margin shrink to 43 points as the riders lined up at the start of the day in Ireland.
With Coppins again deciding not to race on Sunday as he continued with treatment on his shoulder, his nearest rival for the championship, Belgian Suzuki rider Steve Ramon, was presented with yet another golden opportunity to swoop on Coppins' misfortune and further reduce the deficit in Ireland.
But Ramon could manage only eighth and fourth in the two MX1 races in Ireland and he remains 12 points behind Coppins with the penultimate round of the series in England next weekend.
Coppins is expected to return to racing at the British GP and, providing he has the strength to put up a fight, the Kiwi hero remains favourite to win the world title.
Ironically, Sunday's GP winner was Belgian Kevin Strijbos, the Suzuki team-mate of championship hopeful Ramon and, therefore, also the man best placed to assist Ramon.
But Strijbos, who leaves the Suzuki squad next season to ride for a French Kawasaki team, said he felt no obligation to do anything but ride for himself on Sunday.
His 2-1 finishes at Moneyglass gave him the MX1 overall from Frenchman Sebastien Pourcel (Kawasaki), who finished 5-2 in the two outings, and Italian David Philippaerts (KTM), who finished 4-3.
Meanwhile, in the MX2 class, Italian Antonio Cairoli (Yamaha) easily wrapped up the title on Sunday.
The runaway points leader this season, the man from Sicily needed to finish only 20th in the first MX2 race on Sunday to put himself out of reach of his nearest challenger, Christophe Pourcel, the younger brother of Sebastien Pourcel.
As he had so many times before this season, Cairoli won both races and picked up the crown in a typically-Italian high-energy podium celebration.