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Cooper still ‘not 100 percent’ fit after breaking arm last year

Anvil Hire TAG Racing’s Richard Cooper is still suffering with pain from a broken arm that he sustained during the MCE British Superbike round at Thruxton last year, and is still “not 100 percent fit.”

The rider broke multiple bones, in the top and bottom of his arm and made the decision not to rush back into racing. He only jumped back on a bike in April, and now he’s trying to regain his confidence and has been working hard getting to grips with racing a Superbike once again.

Cooper has picked up some points after the last round at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit and is slowly getting back to race fitness, but admits that it has been a struggle.

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“I will be honest I am not 100 percent, and I am struggling in areas that I didn’t think I would be. I didn’t come back in a rush and it is a good thing I didn’t, as I feel I would be struggling even more now. In Brands I felt it hurting again and I am at the test in Oulton Park to keep working on it and keep the strength going,” said Cooper, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“The season is long and I need to be here at the end and I am getting my confidence back up. At the back of my head I know my injury is there, and it is difficult with my day to day job, and that’s even harder when you are racing against the best people in the world, but I need to be working hard on myself and with my team on the bike.”

Those at the official BSB test at Oulton Park yesterday might have noticed Cooper out on the circuit on his black practice bike and not his ususal green Kawasaki, and that was simply because his ZX-10R was with the team at their headquarters and was undergoing an engine refresh before the start of the third round on Saturday.

The diminutive rider did not want to miss the test session and the chance of familiarising himself with the Cheshire track, so he decided to come down and get some valuable track time under his belt.

Cooper said: “I was riding my practice bike during the test as the team are refreshing the engines for next weekend and rather than missing out I put my practice bike in the van and came to the test. It is good to get to speed on the circuit too.

“Any bike time is good bike time and I like Oulton Park, as it is quite up and down. We have been borderline tenth to fifteenth and we are getting closer to making it into the top ten for all three qualifying sessions - which is good. I am improving all the time and the top ten is what I am happy with at the moment.”

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