YOUNG BRIT SECURES MAXIMUM YOUNGSTAR POINTS AT HOME CIRCUIT
25 July 2004 - BMW Motorrad GB

Eighteen-year-old BMW Motorrad Great Britain rider, Calvin Hogan was the first YoungStar championship contender to cross the line at the sixth round of the 2004 BMW Motorrad International BoxerCup series at Donington Park in the UK.

The young British team had qualified for the BoxerCup race on Saturday in perfect weather conditions – dry track and beautiful sunshine. Richard Cooper secured a second row starting position (in eighth position), Barry Burrell qualified on the third row in 12th and Hogan on the fourth row in 13th position. UK VIP rider and ex-500cc GP ace Niall Mackenzie qualified on the third row of the grid in 11th position, Gus Scott was 15th and Derek Shiels was 21st.

On race day the riders faced mixed conditions and all of the BoxerCup riders had to gamble on tyre choice. Most of the field chose a wet front tyre and an intermediate rear tyre. There was even a mixture of choice within the UK team – Cooper chose a set of wet tyres, Burrell decided on a wet front and intermediate rear, and Hogan chose a full dry tyre combination.

As soon as the lights turned green to signal the start of the race Stephane Mertens (Belgium) and Roberto Panichi (Italy) broke away from the rest of the field to fight for the lead of the race. 21-year-old Cooper led the rest of the field of riders in third position, but as the track started to dry, his tyre choice began to affect his race performance and he slowly drifted back through the pack. He finished in 23rd position.

17-year-old Burrell from County Durham rode impressively to fourth position on the second lap and then managed to stay in sixth position for a couple of laps until he also suffered from tyre choice and drifted back through the pack. He finished in 14th position.

It was a different story for 18-year-old Hogan, who didn’t have a good start to the race. At the end of the first lap he was in 17th position ant then gradually he managed to fight for places and climbed through the pack to finish in an impressive eighth position.

Meanwhile up front, Mertens and Panichi endured a 17-lap race long battle for the lead and their fight ultimately ended in tears. While dicing for positions the two riders clashed and fell at the last corner of the last lap and both riders were disqualified from the race. Therefore Britain’s Hogan was reallocated to a sixth place finish, Burrell to 12th and Cooper to 21st.

“I’m really pleased with my result,” said young Hogan. “I really gambled on tyre choice, but I did what I thought was best at the time and it obviously paid off. I didn’t get a good start, but I didn’t really think that I would. The track was wet at the start of the race and I had no idea what the weather was going to do. I just knew that if the weather improved that I would be able to claw my way through the field and that’s what I did.”

BMW Motorrad Great Britain Team Manager, Mark Fisher summed up the team’s results: “Tyre choice was a real gamble. All of our riders rode with a different tyre combination because the weather could have turned at any moment. Richard [Cooper] started the race well, but it wasn’t long until his tyre choice took affect and he went backwards. Barry [Burrell] knew that he probably could have done better in the race, but he also felt that his tyre choice affect his results.

“Overall I’m happy with what the riders achieved this weekend. Calvin [Hogan] has done a good job and secured the maximum championship points at this round in the YoungStar championship.”

UK VIP BoxerCup rider Niall Mackenzie also suffered from tyre choice and withdrew from the race on lap six. Performance Bikes journalist Gus Scott [who rode for the British team in last year’s BoxerCup series] finished a credible eighth position and series leader in the Irish Superbike Championship, Derek Shiels finished 16th.

Footnote
The 2004 BoxerCup is Richard Cooper’s third year in a series that is staged alongside the elite MotoGP championship (excluding the opening round at the Daytona 200). Richard’s impressive riding ability, while still a teenager, helped him secure a race win in his debut year at Spa. He then repeated the feat at the UK round of the 2003 series at Oulton Park. Last year Richard finished sixth overall – ahead of many world-class riders.

Barry Burrell had his first taste of international racing when he joined the BoxerCup series last year and showed his youthful ability by taking the race lead at the Oulton Park and Assen rounds. Impressively, he also set the lap record at Assen. With 14 championship points, Barry is now third in the BMW YoungStar championship for the “best rider in the series under the age of 21”. The winner will be presented with a Mini Cooper at the end of the series.

ACU Academy graduate, Calvin Hogan is the GB team’s new recruit and is excited about testing his precocious racing talent on the international stage.

www.bmw-motorrad.com/boxercup

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