Paul Cooper (GB): A great week ended on the ice/ice speedway

When the line-up for the Roelof Thijs Cup was announced in the run-up to the Ice Speedway World Championships in Heerenveen, Paul Cooper, a name one would not expect in relation to ice speed, appeared. It’s no secret that Cooper is a jack-of-all-trades on motorcycles, as the Brit is one of the established forces on dirt and grass tracks. “Cooperman” is also always on the Teterower Bergring. However, going on the ice was new.

“I used to watch the race regularly in Assen and I went to the race with my girlfriend in Berlin and I wanted to do it for a long time because I believed I could do it with my driving style,” Cooper told SPEEDWEEK.com. his first match on the ice. “It was great to go to Sweden for a training session with Tim Dixon and train there with a borrowed bike from Stefan Svensson. On the way home from Sweden I was asked if I wanted to race in Heerenveen and that’s how I got to my first race on ice.”

Cooper got on track in the first session of the day, but was left without points in a battle with Sebastian Reitsma, Maximilian Niedermaier and Isak Dekkerhus. In his second race, the 41-year-old started from the inside line and scored his first point to the cheers of his fans who were sitting on the starting line.

“With every run I felt better on the bike and with a good start I was able to join the guys. I came here just to do this and check it off my to-do list. After that, I didn’t want to do it again,” Cooper said after the race, where he celebrated his first win on ice after another third place ahead of Michal Knapp in Heat 16. “This week I made history. I’ve won the solo bike race with the 1000cc team and now also on ice. I really had a good week. “

However, Cooper discovered in 20 race days how close the joy and suffering are in motorsport. Emil Kramer fell in front of Cooper, who could no longer avoid it and fell hard to the ground. “The first thought after the fall was, it hurts too much, the ice is too hard, but then it came back,” Cooper remembers the violent ride after the bike was fixed and even the world champion Martin Haarahiltunen helped to get. bike run again. “There were many people who came to help me after the fall that I didn’t even know or had only met during training.”

As time expired after another break, Niek Schaap helped out on his bike and Cooper got a great deal of help in the speedway area in his first game.

With two points on the Dutchman’s bike, Cooper’s evening ended well with seven points in 8th place. The question that now arises is: What’s next for Paul Cooper and the ice road?

“Now I’m in eighth place, I want to do more races with these guys in the future,” says Cooper excitedly, who also reveals what he still misses in racing. “I like grass racing and long races, even if they involve a lot more cleaning up after the race. I haven’t been on a 500cc team yet, I want to do that soon.”