News 1 Dec 2016

Bopping likely to race supercross-only next year

New South Welshman still seeking answers on mystery illness.

Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

Lawson Bopping has indicated it’s likely he’ll race supercross-only in 2017 as he continues to seek answers on a mystery illness that plagued his Australian motocross and supercross campaign this year.

The New South Welshman revealed he doesn’t have a plan for the new year, although he has been in talks with DPH Motorsport – the team he has raced for in the past two years – about racing the Australian Supercros Championship next year under their banner.

“I don’t have a ride and I’m probably not racing at this stage,” Bopping explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “I don’t have a plan yet, but a supercross-only deal would be great, maybe if I just sit out the outdoors and get healthy – hopefully – and then race supercorss-only, I would be stoked with that.

“I haven’t really [been talking to teams], just DPH Motorsport. Dale [Hocking] mentioned – nothing is set in stone – that he would like to put me on for supercross next year, so that’s awesome. I have a really good relationship with the team and they’re awesome people. So I’m like ‘yeah cool, I’m happy with that’.”

Bopping said his priority is to return to 100 percent health before he can search for a fulltime seat, however he is adamant that once he is healthy, he’ll be back to the form that saw him claim an overall victory in the 2015 season.

“Right now I’m trying to get healthy again, pretty much every race I did this in Australia this year, I’ve had this illness thing that’s zapped all my energy, and I’ve struggled hard. Obviously I struggled with the motocross series and had pull out of that, and supercross wasn’t much better.

“I’m kind of in a weird spot, I need to get healthy first – I know that as soon as I’m healthy, I’ll be right back up there. But whatever this thing is, I don’t know how long it’s going to hang around for – I’ve seen so many doctors and spent so much money at them, and yeah, I don’t really have any answers.”

In previous years Bopping has contested the opening rounds of the AMA supercross championship, and although he commented it would be unlikely to see him there at the beginning of the year, he hasn’t completely ruled it out as he still owns a van and bike in the states.

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