(11/20/2018)
Despite a laid back schedule this year, Yuba City’s Brian Cooper showed that he hadn’t lost a step after a nearly perfect season. When you look at Cooper’s stats this year, one big thing stands out. In the 20 races he ran this year, Cooper only finished worse than 3rd three times, all of which were races he didn’t complete due to an incident.
Cooper’s biggest accomplishment in 2018 had to be his domination at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway on his way to the Sport Mod track championship. Cooper collected 4 wins at the track, as well as 11 finishes of 3rd or better in 12 starts. Cooper firmly entrenched himself as the favorite early, with unmatchable consistency giving him a commanding points lead by early June. From there, Cooper didn’t let off the gas pedal, winning 3 of the last 6 races to clinch the track title. The title was his first at the famous Northern California track, while he has also won 1 track title at Placerville Speedway, and 3 at Marysville Raceway.
Though Cooper didn’t race nearly as much in 2018, he still continued to travel across the state and even into Oregon. Cooper’s lone trip to Oregon was the Roger Haudenschild Memorial at Southern Oregon Speedway in June. Cooper looked to have another Top 5 run in the bag, but a mid race wreck destroyed the radiator and ended his night. By far the biggest race Cooper attended this season was the annual Pat and Jim Pettit Shootout at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway. After winning his heat race on Night One, Cooper was running 2nd in the main when he caught a rut in turn 2, almost flipping the car. Then on a restart with 6 to go, Cooper lost a transmission. Ending his great run. Night Two, Cooper would again win his heat race. An unfortunate redraw meant that Cooper would be starting deep in the field. Over the course of the race, Cooper scratched and clawed his way forward to claim 3rd out of the 40 plus Sport Mods that showed up to race.
Next season, Cooper plans to run more of a “Bounty Hunter” schedule, trying to make most if not all of the big Sport Mod races on the West Coast, as opposed to running for points. Brian had this to say on a very successful 2018: “The 2018 season went well for us. Didn’t race as many big shows as we would’ve liked to but had some great runs with the new Victory Circle Chassis. Im very happy with the car. Now that I’ve got my Silver Dollar Speedway Championship no more points racing for me. I really enjoy the sport mod class and for the most part there’s a lot of good guys to race with. Hoping to have some fun and do some traveling with them next year.”
Brian would like to thank all of his sponsors, including:
Automaxx
Victory Circle Chassis
Five 1 seven designs
And Supporters:
David and Rena cooper
My wife Stacey Bartlett-Cooper
Crew guy and friend Michael Sevigny
My Uncle William Fielding
Season Stats:
Starts: 20
Wins: 4
Top 5’s: 17
Top 10’s: 17
Best Finish: 1st (4 times)
Worst Finish: 18th (Pat Pettit Night 1)
Chico:
March 30th: 2nd
April 20th: 1st
May 4th: 2nd
May 5th: 3rd
May 11th: 3rd
June 8th: 14th
June 15th: 1st
June 29th: 1st
July 4th: 3rd
July 13th: 2nd
August 3rd: 1st
August 24th: 3rd
Marysville:
March 24th: 2nd
Placerville:
May 19th: 3rd
Watsonville:
Pettit Night 1: DNF after near flip
Pettit Night 2: 3rd
Yreka:
May 27th: 2nd
September 23rd: 3rd
Medford:
June 2nd: 15th
Stockton:
April 14th: 2nd
Interested in having writeups like these done for your race team throughout the season? Contact Daren Ricks of DRC Motorsports Media here on Facebook, at darenricks999@gmail.com or at (916) 229-7474 to discuss a plan that fits your team’s needs.
Daren Ricks
DRC Motorsports Media
DRC Motorsports Media 