‘COOPERMAN’ CROWNED YOUNGSTAR CHAMPION IN VALENCIA
01 November 2004 - BMW Motorrad GB

Britain’s Richard ‘Cooperman’ Cooper, has been crowned the YoungStar champion for the best rider under the age of 21 at the final round of the last-ever BMW Motorrad International BoxerCup round at Valencia in Spain this weekend.

Nottinghamshire born Cooper finished ninth overall in the BoxerCup championship. But the real target was to become the under-21 YoungStar champion (in the BoxerCup’s integrated series for young talent).

It wasn’t the best of starts for the young Brit when he suddenly found himself relegated from first to 12th position. French rival, Guillaume Dietrich, proved to be the main challenge to Cooper and the pair put on a terrific show in a tough battle to be the first YoungStar rider to take the flag.

But it was the French youngster who secured maximum YoungStar points in fourth position followed by Cooper in fifth. But it was too little too late for the Frenchman as Cooper had secured enough points to take the trophy. He is now the proud owner of a brand new BMW MINI Cooper. “I am obviously overwhelmed to have won the YoungStar series after so many months of speculation,” said Cooper. “However, I was a bit disappointed not to have won the last-ever race but I have the trophy to bring home now and that’s all that matters.”

The Great Britain team took to the Spanish circuit with perfect track conditions and a terrific atmosphere from the 120,000 crowd. Despite Cooper’s triumph, the race wasn’t exactly a success for his fellow BMW Motorrad Great Britain BoxerCup team-mates, Calvin Hogan and Barry Burrell. The youngest rider of the team, 19-year-old Hogan, has performed encouragingly throughout the season, yet he got tangled up with another rider and was knocked off the BMW R1100 S shortly after the start. Burrell, who was also a real contender alongside Cooper for the YoungStar title, managed to achieve the overall third position in the YoungStar series after crossing the line in eighth place – and an overall eleventh position in the BoxerCup final standings.

Austrian rider, Thomas Hinterreiter wrapped up the championship title of BMW Motorrad BoxerCup 2004 at the previous race in Brno, however for Brian Parriott, Roberto Panichi and Markus Barth, there was everything to race for in the bid for an overall second position and the prize of a brand new BMW Z4. The race saw Panichi crash out following an electrifying pace at the front. French rider, Gwen Giabbani, qualified in first position followed closely by Sebastien Legrelle – who was never more than one second apart after the sixth lap. José L. Nion qualified in third position. The overall table of results throughout the season meant it was the USA’s, Brian Parriott who qualified in second position and Markus Barth was third.

However, the accolades really belong to Cooper who has ridden consistently throughout the BoxerCup’s final season. An emotional BMW Great Britain Team Manager, Mark Fisher, couldn’t be more proud of him: “It was by no means an easy race,” he said. “It was hard. I had my heart in my mouth the whole time and just wanted him [Cooper] to do it so badly. Anything better than third position would secure the win and he did even better by qualifying second. He had everything to loose in this race and by using his head he is bringing the trophy home for us. He deserves it so much.”

Valencia marks the end of BMW Motorrad’s extremely popular BoxerCup series. However, it can be certain that the enthusiasm, memories and talent of BMW Motorrad’s Great British team will last for many years to come. And their individual futures look bright.

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.

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

www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk

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