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/128384
The Best of Wes he annals of motorcycle-racing legend are brimming with figures who have been in the right place at the right time to capture their share of glory. Then there are others, such as Mat Mladin, whose overwhelming presence practically forces their era to be recognized as a right place/right time scene. Two-time AMA Superbike Champion Wes Cooley's story combines a little bit of both. Cooley came along at a time when Superbike was clearly gaining definition as the future top class in AMA road racing, and he made the most of it to become one of the class' standout champions. A longtime Southern California club racer with a successful amateur career, was hired by Hideo "Pops" Yoshimura, a japanese who had quickly gained legendary status as a tuner of multi-cylinder japanese four-strokes since moving from japan to California in the early 70s, to campaign the newly formed AMA Superbike Series in 1976. Riding a Yoshimura Kawasaki, Cooley finished fourth in the very first AMA Superike Series race ever held, at Daytona Beach, Florida, on March 5 of that year, though he would finish out of the top five in the series points standings. Still aboard Kawasakis, Cooley's first win came at the final round of the 77 series, on October 2 at Riverside International Raceway, where he defeated Ducati riders Cook Neilson and Paul Ritter. He finished sixth in the AMA Superbike Series that year, but better days lay ahead. T was a hinge in the middle of those things, and when we put slicks on them, they would handle 10 times worse, because then they were hooking up. At least with street tires on them, I could slide the thing then." A switch by Yoshimura from Kawasaki to Suzuki for the 1978 season would prove to be a positive step forward for Cooley's career, as the new Suzuki GS I 000 proved to be a more solid platform from which to build a competitive machine than was the Kawasaki Z-I. "Pops is one of the few people that you could actually say was a real tuner," Cooley says. "He could make the factory shit go faster than the factory could. Kawasaki provided him with stuff, but when he we'nt to Suzuki, they prOVided him with everything and anything he wanted. He took his knowledge and put it together, and the bikes just kept getting better and better." Cooley responded aboard the better-handling Suzuki by winning two Nationals in 78, and he improved one spot in the series standings, landing fifth at season's end. More than that, however, Cooley cemented his status among all the japanese factories when he and fellow American Mike Baldwin teamed up to win the very first Suzuka 8-Hour endurance in japan. Cooley would win the race again in 1980 with that year's Daytona Superbike winner, Graeme Crosby of New Zealand. "If I could look back at points that changed my career, that [5uzuka 78] was a big one," Cooley says. ')\11 of a sudden, international peopie started noticing me. Even today, I can't believe that Suzuki recently did that Wes "Winning is everything, and any time you win, it is a good thing," Cooley said. "We didn't win a race that year, but we earned enough points to win the championship, and that was the focus. I wanted to win every race I ever entered, but in the end I did win that championship, and that was what Pops wanted. That was primary." That first title was the prelude to a three-rider battle among young lions Cooley on Suzuki, Freddie Spencer on Honda, and Eddie Lawson on Kawasaki for the 1980 championship, a season that ranks as one of the toughest the class has ever seen. After Crosby's Daytona victory, Lawson struck first among the title contenders, winning round two at Talladega. Cooley won next, landing the Charlotte race, but then Spencer won the next two events, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and at Loudon, New Hampshire. Then it was Lawson's turn again at Atlanta, followed by a Spencer win at Laguna Seca and then another win by Lawson at Pocono, Pennsylvania. Cooley had managed to stay in the hunt to this point, but with two rounds to go, his back was clearly against the ropes. He had been in the right place at the right time in 1979, but with the title defense on the line, he now needed to make 1980 his place and his time. Nothing less than two wins in the last two rounds could guarantee a repeat title. Cooley gave himself a chance by beating series points leader Lawson and Mike Baldwin at Road Atlanta, but Lawson still had a 17-point lead on Cooley coming into the final race of the year at Daytona, and Spencer was far from out of the picture. "You never say die, but that seemed like an impossible thing," Cooley says. "Lawson basically had to not finish." That's exactly what happened. His bike trailing oil early in the race, Lawson crashed in the chicane on lap six. Cooley went on to beat Spencer to the line to take the win. Despite protests by both Kawasaki, which claimed that Cooley was using an illegal frame, and Honda, which claimed that Suzuki was using an oversized engine (Kawasaki's protest was denied and Honda's was never allowed to be heard), Cooley prevailed and retained the championship. "If I did win, all I had was a chance," Cooley says. "There are no guarantees in this deal." Cooley went on to remain competitive through 1985, when a horrific crash at Sears Point nearly cost him his life. A year after recovering, he returned to racing, riding endurance events. He formally retired in 1992. Now 49 and living in Twin Falls, Idaho, where he Superbikes then were a far cry from the modern marvels ridden by Mladin and co. today. Best described as Top Fuel engines in wicker-basket frames, handling was a constant battle, especially, it seemed, with the Kawasakis. "There's no doubt about that," Cooley says. "There 82 JUNE 29, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Cooley Replica Oapan-only model]. I'm still a popular name in japan because of Suzuka." Although he failed to win a race, Cooley still ascended to the 1979 AMA Superbike Championship via consistent top-three finishes, landing his first career AMA title. has pursued a career in nursing, Cooley admits to pretty much being out of the motorcycle loop since retiring, although that is changing. ''I'm starting to follow it a little bit more," Cooley says. ')\fter last year, with the [AMA] Hall of Fame thing and then with this Wes Cooley Replica bike, maybe I should kind of get back into it. After 25 years, they still remember me." CN