Guy Coop
er
By Donn Maeda
hen Guy Cooperflew
across thefinish line
at the season-ending
'93l.As Vegas Supercross, the personable
Oklahoman finished
one chapter in his life
and began another. Though "Coop" still
plans to race selected motocross and
supercross events in thefu ture, the 1990
125cc National Champion and reigning
World Supercross Champion has made a
successful transition into the world of
off-road racing. Instead of whoops, doubles and triples - logs, tree roots and
rocks will now be viewed through Cooper's goggles.
Undoubtedly the most popular rider
on the professional motocross circuit,
Cooper has rapidly been gaining the
samefollowing in off-road circles. As a
member of Team Suzuki Off-Ro ad,
Cooper has already notched his f irst
GrandNationalCross Country win and
won his respective classes at thefamous
Alligator and Tecate Enduros - all in a
matter of months.
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6
So far, how has the transition fr om
motocro ss to off-roa d b een ? Is it as
easy - or as hard - as you expected?
Well, I'm learning a lot. It's every bit as
much fun as I was hoping it would be,
and it's every bit as hard as I was hoping that it wasn 't gonna be. (Laughs) I
knew that it was gonna be tough. Those
off-road gu ys are as good at what they
do as Jeremy (McGrath) is at supercross.
Even thou gh I've been riding all my life
on the trails in Oklahom a, riding offroad isn't something that I've practiced
week in and week out. A lot of people
expected me to come in and beat these
guys, just because I can beat them on a
motocross track, but there's a big difference between the type of racing that I'm
good at, and the type of racing that I'm
doing now . I enjoy it. It's a lot different
than I'm used to.
What's the hardest part abo ut making
the tra nsition?
Well, even the trails tha t I ride on for
practice - I've been on them a couple of
times before in the last year, so it's not
totally new ground to me. I raced the
Tecate Enduro recentl y ... that was 160
miles worth of riding, and you never
took the sa me trail twice . For the
motoc ross guy s who don't do endures,
well , th a t would be like going to a
motocross track that you've never been
to and having a lap time taken on you
on your first lap! There's always better
lines out there, but you don't get a second chance to find them .
So, is there a definite skill that you
de velop that allows you to read ahead
and pick tho se good lines ?
Readin g the course is so much of it, but
