Cody Cooper
Rider Profile
Date of Birth: 12/10/83
Currently lives: Mount Maunganui, New Zealand
Height: 182cm
Weight: 82kg
How many years riding: 23 years
Career Highlights: First AMA Podium (Unadilla Round Eight, 2008 AMA Motocross Championship)
Results MX 2009:In 2009 Cooper strung together some impressive results in the AMA Outdoor Series, which included six top-10 finishes in the premier 450 class.
Bike for 2010 MX: Suzuki RM-Z450
Riding number for 2010 MX: 10
Team Manager: Jay Foreman
Mechanic: Simon Reid
First bike: JR50
Favourite track: Red Bud
Heroes: Stefan Everts and Ricky Carmichael
If you weren’t riding Motocross, what would you be doing: A mechanic
Toughest Competition: Everyone
Sponsors: Moto City Suzuki, M2R helmets, No Fear, JT Sprokets, Oakley.
Type of Riding: super x, moto x.
Class: MX 1
Goals: be the best person I can be.
Likes: cycling, mnt biking, running, hanging with friends.
Highlights: riding on factory team in USA. racing Bubba.
Other Interests: racing cars
Fave Music: rise against, anything really.
Labour Weekend Extravaganza 2011
Mount Maunganui’s Cody Cooper again won the big annual Labour Weekend Motocross Extravaganza in Taupo on Sunday and that came as a surprise to absolutely nobody. Cooper is, afterall, the man who won this popular annual event last season and he is also the reigning New Zealand MX1 Champion. His undoubted talents were also recognised just over a month ago by the Suzuki factory team in Europe when they drafted the Kiwi in to replace their injured world championship superstar Clement Desalle.
But the comprehensive manner of Cooper’s victory at Taupo’s Digger McEwen Motocross Park on Sunday did raise a few eyebrows nonetheless.
“I just felt really good today,” said the 28-year-old Cooper in classic understatement.
He was unbeaten in his MX1 class outings and also ran away with the coveted Nicky Smith Memorial feature race.
“It was a good way to start the season for Team Suzuki.”
Cooper was simply beaming about his new 2012-model Suzuki RM-Z450.
“The new bike is awesome ... so much power. I holeshot every race. It is just so grunty. I’ll be doing lots of riding now to warm up for the motocross nationals and then will step up my training even more before the Summercross (at Whakatane) just after Christmas and then the supercross champs and motocross champs (at the start of next year).”
It could easily have been a Suzuki 1-2 in the feature final too as Cooper’s team-mate, fellow Bay of Plenty rider Rhys Carter, also ran near the front for much of the all-in feature race on his Suzuki RM-Z250, eventually settling for third place behind national MX2 champion Darryll King, of Hamilton.
Carter also finished overall first-equal – level with King – in the separate battle for MX2 class honours but was forced to accept runner-up spot on the count-back rule.
“I’m pretty happy with today, especially considering I was sick with the flu all week,” said the 22-year-old Carter afterwards.
“I know I’ve got the speed to win this year and I’ll be fitter and stronger by the time I race the nationals (in February).”
Cody to Europe to replace Desalle 19.08.11
New Zealand’s Cody Cooper will contest the final two rounds of the FIM Motocross World Championship in place of injured title contender Clement Desalle.
Kiwi Cody Cooper will make a shock appearance for Rockstar Energy Drink Suzuki in the final World Motocross rounds.
Cooper, who won five motos and the Toowoomba round during the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals this season, will ride for Rockstar Energy Drink Suzuki in the MX1 premier class.
After winning his maiden New Zealand Motocross Championship earlier this year, Cooper was in stunning form as the MX Nationals commenced in Australia, only to be forced out of title contention during the Appin round.
Cooper suffered rib injuries and a collapsed lung in moto two at Appin after winning three motos in succession, ruled out of that round and the following one at Raymond Terrace to dash his title hopes.
The world championship rounds in Germany and Italy next month won’t be Cooper’s first appearance on an international level, previously spending two seasons in the U.S. and finishing a fine fifth in the 2008 AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
Cooper has also represented New Zealand at the Motocross of Nations, finishing on the podium with Josh Coppins and Ben Townley in 2006. He’ll head to Europe on Wednesday next week.
Desalle suffered a broken left shoulder last weekend while contesting a round of the Belgian Motocross Championship, undergoing surgery on Tuesday and expected to be ruled out for six weeks.
Cooper will skip this weekend’s British Grand Prix, joining the team for the European Grand Prix at Galidorf on 4 September and the Italian Grand Prix at Fermo on 11 September.
Report 19th March 2011
It was two Suzuki riders in the top three when the mud was finally cleared away at round one of the Australian Motocross Championships on Sunday, one of them a Kiwi hero.
And the momentum was surely with Mount Maunganui’s Cody Cooper as he took his Team Rockstar Motul Suzuki RM-Z450 to win the final two muddy open class races of the day at the rain-drenched Broadford circuit, just outside Melbourne.
If he had not struck problems in the earlier two races, it could well have been New Zealand’s Cooper on the top step of the podium across the Tasman.
Instead it was Scottish visitor Billy Mackenzie who won the day, ending up a flattering 18 points ahead of Cooper, with another Suzuki rider, Australian Lawson Bopping in third spot overall.
Cooper was thrilled with his day’s work.
“Yes, I finished up second today, which is a good result for me,” said Cooper.
“Last year I had a horrible start to the season, although a first overall would have been great today.
“One of my races today was terrible, with me having no visibility and running off the track into some PVC piping and then having trouble remounting the bike and getting it going. I am happy to still manage to finish the day in second place overall.
“Those good starts helped out a lot and I want to get a few more of them this season.”
Cooper now returns home to continue his New Zealand Motocross Championships campaign, a competition in which he is currently running a close second overall to fellow Kiwi international Josh Coppins after two of four rounds.
Cooper took his team Power Balance MotoGB Suzuki RM-Z450 to win round two of that series, at Patetonga, near Morrinsville, a fortnight ago and is looking forward to renewing his battle with Coppins at round three near Rotorua this Sunday.
With the form that Cooper is exhibiting, he could finish the year with two national titles in two separate countries. Report by Andy McGechan www.bikesportnz.com
About Cody Cooper
Cody Cooper returns to Australia to spearhead Team Rockstar Motul Suzuki’s attack on the premier Pro Open class in the 2010 National Motocross Championship aboard Suzuki’s fuel-injected RM-Z450.
Born in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, Cooper started racing at age four. In 1994 he claimed his first New Zealand Junior Motocross Title and repeated the effort in 1995.
In the ensuing years Cooper took a break from the sport, returning in 2000 to race the famous Woodville Motocross Grand Prix, where he claimed the win in his comeback race.
Cooper’s consistency continued to improve and in 2003 he claimed the Pro Lites class of the New Zealand National Motocross Championship.
In 2004 he claimed the Pro Lites division of the Australian National Motocross Championship and then backed up with another New Zealand Motocross Championship (Pro Lites) in 2005.
In 2006 Cooper competed in the Pro Open class of the Australian National Motocross Championship, finishing third. He was then selected to represent New Zealand (for the second time) at the MX des Nations where the New Zealand team finished third overall.
In 2007, again racing Pro Open, Cooper claimed nine race podiums, including three wins, on his way to third place in the Australian National Motocross Championship. In the Supercross series that same year he secured fourth place overall.
Cooper then jetted stateside to compete in the final two rounds of the AMA Motocross Championship. The penultimate round at Freestone County Raceway saw Cooper claim fifth overall, while the final round saw a seventh in Moto One before a mechanical failure in the second Moto left him with an 11th place finish overall.
In the 2008 AMA Outdoor Series, Cooper was a regular front runner claiming fifth place in the 450 class. This included eight top-10 finishes, two overall podium finishes and three individual podium Moto finishes.
In 2009 Cooper strung together some impressive results in the AMA Outdoor Series, which included six top-10 finishes in the premier 450 class.
In 2010, Cooper will pilot Suzuki’s fuel-injected RM-Z450 in the National Motocross Championship, looking to continue Suzuki’s impressive racing results over the last three years.
