Page 22 - Issue_78

JUSTIN COOPER
250 MX / 6TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Justin Cooper is one of the more interesting rookies we have had in quite some time because he was relatively unknown until his breakthrough amateur performances over the past year or so. He dominated the A classes at Loretta Lynn’s and the rest of the amateur nationals he lined up at last year foreshadowing how his pro debut would go. Cooper would race the last three rounds of the outdoor series a year ago and at his debut at Unadilla, he would nearly WIN a moto. His fth overall certainly didn’t tell the whole story as he’d nish 12-2 with a great shot at a moto win. He came back to earth a bit at the last two rounds nishing eleventh at both, but he already showed the potential for greatness is there. His rookie Supercross season this year was not one to remember because there was nothing really to remember. He got ninth at the rst round but got hurt and could not nish the rest of the series. He healed up and solely focused for the start of the outdoor season.
That injury in Supercross helped Cooper y under the radar heading into Hangtown. There were rumors out there saying that he was consistently throwing down blazing fast lap times at practice during the weeks leading up to the opener, but nothing really matters until the gate drops. He backed up the ru- mors right away by leading some laps in the rst moto there but ended up nishing the day 5-9 for fth. He rebounded right away at Glen Helen by setting a blistering fast lap time in the qualifying practice sessions. His time was fastest on the day by far and he looked to be a force to be reckoned with come race time.
Justin Cooper got his day of racing going with a sixth place holeshot. He turned that into a fth place after lap two and dialed in behind Shane McElrath. He wasn’t quite able to solely focus on McElrath because he had a two-time champion breathing down his neck by the name of Jeremy Martin. Martin was riding all over Cooper, but Cooper matched every surge Martin threw at him. Their battle pushed themselves right past McElrath to move up a spot at the halfway point, but it didn’t stop there. Martin continued to pressure Cooper, but Cooper continued to calmly negate any effort from Martin. In the last few laps, Cooper caught Martin’s older brother Alex, but did not have time to make a pass. He’d nish fourth in a valiant effort keeping Jeremy Martin in check for the entire moto.
Cooper got a similar begin the second moto. He started eighth but quickly slotted into seventh on
lap two by passing Sean Cantrell. From then on, Cooper endured a quiet moto. He got close to Joey Savatgy a few times in the rst half of the moto, but nothing ever materialized. Then in the second half of the moto he reeled in Austin Forkner and the two pushed each other into pressuring Zach Osborne for the last two laps but once again, nothing materialized. Cooper would nish right there in seventh. His 4-7 moto scores would be good enough to get him sixth overall. The New York kid already showing veteran like consistency.
22 GRITMOTO • MAY 27, 2018