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JUSTIN COOPER
250 MX / 10TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> What a season it has been thus far for rookie Justin Cooper. After missing all but one round of his rst 250SX West Coast championship series, Cooper has returned with
a vengeance outdoors. Despite racing, and racing very well, after graduating from the amateur ranks and racing the last few outdoor rounds of 2017, this is of cially his rookie season. But far from a rookie he has looked during the rst four rounds of the series. He sits in fourth place in points and already has a moto win and two overall podiums under his belt. His other two overalls were a fth and sixth, so the usual rookie inconsistency has clearly not been the case for him. His speed has been exceptional, and he has straight up beat many of the title contenders in the class on occasions this year. He en- ters Muddy Creek ready to keep the ball rolling. Justin Cooper threw down in the morn- ing qualifying practice sessions. The rookie Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha rider notched the fastest lap time of the class by nearly two full seconds. He was clearly vibing with the race track and was ready for the gate to drop. Moto one began with Cooper getting out to a great start. He came out of lap one clean and in fourth position. He immediately had to deal with pressure from the hometown rider, Shane McElrath, and it looked like he might succumb to it. Instead, he upped the pace and moved forward instead of backwards as he managed to pass Geico Honda’s RJ Hampshire for third. This pass occurred on lap three and it allowed Cooper to focus forward on catching the pair of Martin brothers who held down the top two spots. He slowly moved towards Alex Martin and would catch a freebie when Martin hit the deck hard allowing Cooper to move past him. Cooper took over that second-place position at the halfway point, leaving him plenty of time to try and make a run at Jeremy Martin for the lead. But Martin proved to be too quick and Coo-
per would be unable to chop down much of the gap. He would be comfortable nishing second and it would set himself up nicely for moto two. Moto two started in the worst way possible for Cooper. He rounded lap on in a distant last place. He had problems right from the start and he fought them the rest of the moto. Because of this, he would never be able to mount a full charge forward and would end up nishing the moto way back
in twenty-eighth. This would be his rst big problem or issue of the season but because of his second in moto one, his 2-28 scores would be enough to salvage a tenth overall. This will surely leave a bad taste in his mouth and he will look to come out swinging next weekend at Southwick.
32 GRITMOTO • JUNE 24, 2018