YEAR OF THE ‘COOPER MAN’ IN YOUNGSTARS SERIES?
18 August 2004 - BMW Motorrad GB

After a three week summer break, the penultimate round of the BMW Motorrad BoxerCup 2004 series takes place at the Czech Republic circuit of Brno this weekend, with no less than 34 R1100 S machines all battling for honour.

Austria’s Thomas Hinterreiter is on the verge of championship glory and picking up the keys of a brand new BMW M3 Coupe after a season that has so far seen him on the podium at every race and building up a commanding 27 point series lead.

However, British interest lies with 21-year-old BMW Motorrad Great Britain rider, Richard Cooper, who is hoping to be one step nearer to his goal of winning a brand new MINI Cooper as he competes in the BMW YoungStars cup that runs alongside the main championship. Cooper is currently in top position in the YoungStars series with 106 points.

“I am definitely out to win YoungStars,” he said confidently. “It’s the final year of the BoxerCup and it would be so great for me to win this cup and such a fantastic prize. It goes with my name so I hope it is meant to be.”

One rider who still believes that he is in with a chance of winning YoungStars is Cooper’s own team mate, Barry Burrell. The 18-year-old has a total of 102 points – just 4 points behind Richard, and is determined to be hot on the heels of ‘Cooper Man’ on race day.

“I’m feeling a bit nervous but I’m looking forward to competing at Brno and believe I can beat Richard if the conditions are right. However, Richard is a consistent rider, so we’ll just have to see what happens on the day,” said Barry.

The youngest GB rider to compete in the 2004 series is Calvin Hogan, who has had a really promising start to his international racing career. He came first in the YoungStars series at Donington Park and hopes to finish in the top 15 in the overall standings.

“I really enjoyed the previous race but unfortunately don’t know the Brno circuit at all,” said the ACU Academy graduate. “I’ve got a
MotoGP computer game, so as part of my preparations I’ve been practising on that and trying to learn the circuit.”

This is the final year that the BMW Motorrad International BoxerCup series will take place. The last ever round will take place at Valencia, Spain on 30 October.

www.worldofbmw.com

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