Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127291
GINTERVIEW 125cc National MX Champ_ion_G_u-,-y_C_oo""",-p_e f --:--- _ IF By Nate R au ba Photos by Ken Faught Ki t Palmer and R au ba o r seven years, G uy Cooper has been the underdog, chas ing a dream o f winn in g th e 125cc Nation al MX Ch ampionsh ip. But now th at Coo per ha s fulfill ed that dr eam , he'll be the top dog everyone will shoot for in 1991. It was a long wait. for the titl e, but one well worth all the years of hard work and sacrifice. " I've been wanting it so long that the wai t just mad e it (win ning the cham pio nsh ip ) all th e bett er," said the 28-year-o ld motocrosser from Stillwate r, Okl ah om a. 'Ht feels so good that I wish there were more number one plates given out. It's something that all riders who devoteso much of their time and try so hard to attain should be able to experienceJ ,. Several weeks after he won the titl e - in the fina l mo to of the season a t Unadi lla, Cooper still cou ld n' t describe how it felt to win his first titl e an d becom e the o ldest l25cc Nati ona l cha mp. " It feels so good that I wish there were more number on e plates given o ut," he says. " It 's som ething that all riders who devote so m uch of their tim e a nd try so hard to attain shou ld be able to expe rience." Although Cooper says he grew up on two wheels, it was o n ly seven years ago rha t he set for himself th e goal of becoming the 125cc Nati onal Cha mpion , T hen, wi th the su pport of hi s wife j ayn i, he devoted his life to attai n ing that goa l. At 21, Cooper was getting a late start to a career where most riders usuall y peak by th e tim e th ey're 25 years old. Cooper's parents ow ned a mo tor cycle sho p in Stillwat er, so he always had access to bikes whil e he was growing up. After working in the sho p aft er school durin g the week, Cooper wo u ld ea rn p ermi ssion fr om hi s paren ts to rid e one of the shop bik es o n weekends. Then he'd go to church early Sunday morning and rid e the rest of the da y, man y tim es while still wearing hi s chur ch clo thes. Cooper rode a ll kinds of events, bu t as a teenager he began to lose int erest in motorcycles. His parents also sold bi cycles, and Cooper ga ve up th e motor ized spo rt to concent ra te o n th e pedal-powered versio n. But after a year Cooper was back on a motorcycle. " I hadn 't raced in more than a year a nd wen t to th e local happening track," Cooper recalls. " I fin ish ed th ird in th e Amat eur class and was hooked aga in , I said, 'This is what r want to do',' and I didn 't do any thing bu t thin k and dream abou t motocross from then o n." For severa l years he competed as an Expert class rider at the big ama teur event s wit h hel p from Kaw asaki 's Team Green progra m. H is parents also helped out by gi ving h im time off from wo rking in the shop to attend races. When he was 21 he knew it was ti me ro move o n. Kawasak i wou ld o n ly • No longer the underdog_ ) . ) suppo rt him in the amateur events , so Cooper lin ed up a deal with Honda. " Ho nda ga ve me five bikes and a p a rt s a llowa nce to tr av e l to th e , Nati on al s," says Cooper. " I tho ug ht that was a big ride, whi ch it was for us in Okl ah oma." Gu y ma rri ed j ayni at the beginn in g of 1984, and toget he r they bega n to chase wh at came to be their dr eam of a Nat ion al titl e. T he ,dream q uickly became a ni gh mare whe n their van , trai ler and bikes were sto len early in the seaso n . Unda unted , they purchased a car with the insurance mon ey, talked his parents into loaning him so me bikes, and pull ed a trailer the rest of the season, often sleeping in the back seat of the ' car. But th ey mad e it th rough that year, and over the next few years Coo per steadily improved as a priva teer. Cooper go t h is big break wh en Hon da gave him full factor y suppo rt for the 1988 season . There was also a bad break - of th e, physical kind :before the seaso n even started. Coo per fractu red hi s leg during th e off-seaso n, i n a Euro pea n su percross ra ce. Althou gh he missed severa l of th e early 125cc Nati on al s, Cooper still won four l25cc Nation al s that year and missed the runner-up spot in the fina l sta ndings by two poi nts . In 1989, Cooper was in conte ntion for the 125cc title throug ho u t the year, but a bad da y in the final round at Unadilla, on ce agai n left h im third in the final standi ngs and he was dropped from the H onda team. After being pi cked up by Suzuki for the 1990 seaso n, Cooper said, " I want to be the fir st rider to leave Honda and win a cha m p ionshi p the next year." H e immediately liked hi s new team . " I was really impressed with the way Suzuki handl ed thei r team ," say s Cooper. " T hey ro lled out the red ca rp et with th e littl e thi ngs, like mak in g flight arrangements for jayni , ma king sure r was entered at all the races and paying those en tries. Every rider was treated the same, " H onda is very much like a totem