during the Taupo weekend, ending the event
nine points behind Bay of Plenty’s Rees.
Defending series champion Scott Moir (Suzuki
GSX-R1000), from Taupo, was suffering from a
stomach bug at Taupo and was unfortunately
unable to offer much of a challenge.
Cooper then came on strong at round two at
Manfeild a week later, wiping out the deficit and
even taking a one-point series lead over Rees.
Although Cooper had his hands full battling
Rees’ elder brother Mitch (Honda CBR1000SP1)
at Whanganui’s final round on Boxing Day
– Mitch Rees winning both F1 races on the
day – this was not too much of a concern
to Cooper, who knew that it was really only
Damon Rees that he needed to keep at
bay for him to take the series honours.
Cooper responded to Mitch Rees’ back-to-
back F1 class wins at Whanganui by twice
finishing runner-up, while Damon Rees
finished third both times, and this was easily
enough for Cooper to win the series outright,
ending up five points clear of Damon Rees,
with Mitch Rees claiming third overall for the
series, albeit a distant 29 points further back.
Damon Rees led early in the 10-lap
Robert Holden Memorial feature race, with
Cooper and Mitch Rees in hot pursuit.
It stayed like this for the next eight laps,
until the leaders started lapping other
riders and that’s when Cooper pounced,
zipping past Damon Rees and into the
lead, which he held until the end.
Taupo’s defending Suzuki Series champion
Moir and Glen Eden’s national superbike
champion Daniel Mettam rounded out the
top five in the glamour Robert Holden race.
“I had no answer for Mitch (in the F1 class
races) today,” said Cooper. “His pace was
unbelievable and he broke the lap record here
at Whanganui. I was comfortable and I just did
what I had to do to win the series. In the last
race we always put a little bit more on
the line and I saw my opportunity when
“
TO COME HERE AND WIN THIS
SERIES FOR SLOAN FROST SUZUKI
AND TSS RED BARON IS AMAZING,
BUT THEN TO TOP IT ALL OFF BY
WINNING THE ROBERT HOLDEN
RACE TOO IS PRETTY SPECIAL
KIWI RIDER 29