Cooper joins Jackson at Buildbase BMW

Richard Cooper will join Lee Jackson at Buildbase BMW for the 2016 MCE British Superbike season. The 33 year old’s deal will see him stay with the squad for a full season, after joining half way through 2015.

Cooper had a strong finish to the 2015 season with the team, securing a number of top six finishes in the second half of the year after switching from the Anvil TAG Kawasaki team.

“It’s great to be staying on with the Buildbase BMW team. I’m looking forward to completing a full season with them as I only joined half way through last year. We made great progress in the time we had together in 2015 and I’m confident we can take this into the upcoming season. As soon as I came back to the team I felt at home immediately so sticking with them for 2016 seemed natural.”

The team’s late announcement of their second rider comes after much speculation in recent months about their future plans. Originally linked to potentially taking on the factory Yamaha support left vacant by the departing Milwaukee squad, they have instead elected to remain with BMW.

The team will also return to the National Superstock 1000 championship in 2016, as Taylor Mackenzie joins them after a disappointing year in BSB.

“I’m really excited to be joining Buildbase BMW for the season ahead, they’re a well-established, hard-working team and having already spent quite a bit of time with them I’m feeling good. I’ve had a tough few years and I’m keen to put that behind me and joining a team as strong as this is the right way to do that.

“I spent some time on a BMW road bike in Spain earlier this week and it was awesome, so I can’t wait to get on my stocker. We’ve got a good testing programme so with a bit of hard work there’s no reason we can’t be up the sharp end and hopefully bring some trophies home!”