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CODY COOPER
450 MX / 9TH
IMAGE / LANG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Cody Cooper has returned to the U.S. to race the full outdoor national circuit for
the rst time since 2009. Many may remember him from when he nearly ended James Stewart’s perfect season in 2008 when he came so close to winning a thrilling moto in the mud at Unadilla. The rider hailing all the way from New Zealand has raced Hang- town and Glen Helen the last two seasons but did not compete in the rest of the series. This year he wanted to go at it full time again and it has clearly worked out great for
him. He nished a strong thirteenth at the opener in Hangtown and then nished a
quite impressive tenth overall at Glen Helen. He struggled a bit with the rough track and altitude in Colorado at round three, but he managed to piece together 17-11 mot scores for fourteenth overall. He has been oating in and around that coveted top ten all season thus far and he looked to continue that as the series headed east to the High Point national. Cooper looked smooth and consistent in the morning qualifying practice ses- sions. The Kiwi rider threw down the ninth fastest time and looked hungry to dive deep into the top ten as the track suited his style enormously. Cooper kicked off his rst moto of the day by avoiding the carnage that happened in the rst turn and positioning himself all the way up in fourth place. He was right up front with the title contenders and hung right with them for the opening laps. Justin Hill would catch and pass him on lap three, sending him to fth, but he remained strong up front. He had fth place on lockdown all the way to the halfway point when a charging Blake Baggett took it away from him. A few laps later, both Benny Bloss and Ken Roczen would also have their way with Cooper, sending him back to eighth. Cooper stopped the bleeding here and did not let anyone else catch him in the nal fteen minutes of the moto. He would nish a very impres- sive season best eighth place on the moto and would try to replicate that in the second one. Cooper did not get another great start in moto two, but he did get a decent one.
He rounded lap one in tenth and held his own through the chaos of the rst few laps. Despite getting passed and passing other riders, three laps later he was still in tenth. Lap ve, Blake Baggett decided to pass him again and sent Cooper back to eleventh.
A couple laps later, he would be able to pass fellow international rider, Toshiki Tomita,
to move back into tenth. From there, Cooper enjoyed a rather unentertaining rest of the moto as he quietly brought home another solid top ten nish. His 8-10 moto scores im- pressed many and earned him ninth overall on the day. It was his best nish in the U.S. since Millville of 2009.
54 GRITMOTO • JUNE 17, 2018