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
SIN ERV W T IE e 125(( National Ml Champ_io_n_G-. i.uy_C_oo...p_er_..."..J " We' re a team ," says Cooper of his wife Ja yni, who is an integral part of his racing success, J ayni attends nearly every race to suppo rt Guy. expenses of flying ] ayn i to th e races. But 1 don 't want to sou nd like I'm boasting, Som eti mes I almos t feel bad abo ut it kno wing that there are ma ny priva teers wh o are my frie nds that do n 't make very mu ch ." Coo per says tha t he's alread y go t p la ns fo r h is earn ings. He wants to exp and his Com petition Con nectio n accessory sho p in tillwat er, whi ch means buy ing the bui ldi ng next door "Obtaining the number one plate was one of the biggest goals in my entire life. Asecond one would be great, but now that I know what it feels like, I know that if it doesn't happen I've got the one I really wanted." to use as a shop to store some o f hi s eq u ip ment. So me of that equipment incl udes a new tracto r tha t Cooper proudly shows off in a Mid west farm boy way. The tractor, he exp la ins, is used to maintain hi s practice track. It 's no t a pri vate track since it's bui lt o n publ ic land, and Cooper always welcomes the loca l riders who use it. Cooper ha s a lso p lann ed hi s fu tu re. He'll be bac k wit h Suzuki next year to defend hi s titl e. He's go t a goa l to Bayle was injured. Two of his Suzuki teammates who had mo ved into the 125cc class a t the com p letio n of the 250cc Na tio na l Cha mpions h ip MX Series finis hed behind Cooper that day, giving h im a 61-poi nt lead o ver his nearest riva l, H onda' s Mi ke Kied ro wski. Ano ther Suzuki teamma te also came over from the 250cc class to compete in th e I25cc class, as well as the two factor y Yama ha rid ers. . A ma gazin e editor ial was crit ical o f the way Cooper won at Washou gal, thu s crea ting what Cooper refers to as the " black cloud. '" " I had Suzu ki teammat es fin ish beh ind me ,which took points from Kiedro wski ." explains Cooper. " I o nly won by o ne po int, so people wh o read that art icle ma y base the whole cha mpio ns hip o n that race. Some may th in k 1did n' t deserve it, and that 's what cas ts the black clo ud. There was n' t anyth ing done to chea t. We all had the same chance from the starti ng ga te to th e finish line. " I gained poi nts o n Kiedrow ski (d ue .to the 250cc class riders ), but 1also had a lot of poi nts stolen fro m me as well. If you loo k a ll the 250 riders o ut of the last six races and added up the points. 1 still wou ld've been ahead by more than the way it turned o ut," By elima ting the , 250 riders and bumping both Cooper's and Kiedro wski 's finish es up accordingly, Coo per would 've indeed still wo n the champ ion ship with a three -poi nt margin , At least the finan cial rewards that come with win ning a cha mpionsh ip help to bri ghten Coo per 's o utloo k. '"I did pretty well , but 1 can't tell you exactly how mu ch I made." says Co oper, " Yo u cou ld say 1 mad e more than 200,000, befor e you count the --..:..- _ win his first supercross race, and he'd" like to top hi s record of ,I I National moto and five o vera ll wins. " I' ve th ou ght in the past a lot about reti ring at the end of '91, but at th is point I don 't know if I'll act ually do it: ' Cooper said. He enjoys testing, and wouldn 't mind cutting back o n raci ng in '92 in order to participate in research and de velopmen t. Cooper figu res that wo uld allow him to spend more tim e at hom e so that he can start a fami ly. Cooper likes all kinds of off-road riding, and when he's not o n the motocross tr ack he ca n be found thumping alo ng th e tra il on his Suzuki DR or tackling obstacles o n one of hi s tria ls bi kes. He may even try the ISDE some day . " Yo u may very well see me at the ISD E in the fu ture, one of my goa ls is to mak e a successful tra nsis tio n to end uro or cross cou ntry ridi ng, " says Cooper. " I've got so me experience in endures, my brothers are really fast and are teach ing me how to go thro ugh the trees quickly. Maybe by zhe time th e ISD E roll s arou nd in Tulsa in 1994 you mi ght see three Coopers riding." But nex t season you ' ll see Guy Cooper riding as the 125cc Nati on al Ch am p ion. He will no lon ger be in hi s favor ite ro le of the underdog . " I' ve go t the n um ber one plate an d peo p le a re goi ng to want to beat me," Cooper says. But now that he's experienced the pressure of bei ng number o ne, twice if you cou nt h is slide back to secon d in the points, Coo per feels it will be easier to be o n to p. " O btain ing the number one plate was on e 01 the biggest goa ls in my entire life," says Cooper. " A second one wou ld be grea t, bu t now that I kn ow what it feels like, I know that if it doesn 't happen I've got the one 1 reall y wanted." 0'1 With th e title in hi s gra sp , Cooper wanted to scream and be excited on the last lap at Unadilla but knew he had to concentrate.